Reading the Mother Daughter Book Club
by StarRee's Pen
Summary: What will happen when Emma, Jess, Megan, Cassidy, and Becca along with all their families sit down to read a book that has all of their thoughts? Chaos and catastrophe! Disclaimer:Everything owned by Heather Vogel Frederick except what came from my mind.
1. Coming Together

**Disclaimer: Anything remotely recognizable belongs to Heather Vogel Frederick.**

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><p>Mrs. Hawthorne had just finished shelving the books in the Concord public library and went back to her desk to add the new books to the system. As she went quickly through the pile in her eagerness to head home, she came across a pink book that intrigued her. She grabbed a Post-It note and wrote a reminder about where the book was being taken. She put the book in her bag, grabbed her things and started for the home.<p>

Arriving at home, she went into her bedroom and changed into a more comfortable pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Mrs. Hawthorne made her way up to Emma's bedroom and went inside. She found Emma reading a book on her bed. She looked up.

"Hey Mom," she said closing her book, "when did you get home?"

"A couple minutes ago. Emma, I know you and the other girls think that you should take a break from being in the book club now that you are all in high school, but I don't believe that is the right decision."

"You may not think so Mom, but we all decided this and agreed to it," Emma said, shrugging as she said this in an attempt to look like she didn't care…and failing.

"Em, I know you and all the other girls miss book club. So, when I was on my way home from the library today. I made a couple of phone calls and all the girls and their families are on their way here," said Mrs. Hawthorne as she made her way downstairs to get everything ready.

Emma quickly gathered her hair into a ponytail and straightened her clothes. She went downstairs and saw that there were a lot more seats than the 10 chairs that were normally set out for book club.

"Mom, why do we need that many chairs? Isn't it only the girls and their mothers?"

"Well, Emma, since this year's book is a little different. I think the way the club is normally organized should be different," said Mrs. Hawthorne as the doorbell rang.

"Wait so everyone from all of the families are going to be here? What book would make you want to do that?" said Emma.

"Nope, no telling. That would spoil the surprise," she said as she opened the door.

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><p><strong>AN: Not the best way to start off a story. I realize that. I can only hope my first fic will get better. Please review. Anything you guys say will be welcome **


	2. Autumn - Emma

**Disclaimer: Everything is owned by Heather Vogel Frederick.**

**Updated 01/04**

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><p>Once all of the Delaneys (except for the twins), Chadwicks, Wongs, and the Sloanes were situated in the living room, along with Mr. Hawthorne and Darcy, Mrs. Hawthorne came back in and seated herself next to her husband on the sofa.<p>

"Okay, so as everyone knows we have all been having arguments amongst ourselves and when I called all the mothers this afternoon so we could read a book which will hopefully bring us all back together again," she said as she pulled the pink book out of her bag.

"Phoebe, do you honestly think that reading this book could put everything back to the way it was before. What makes this book so special?" said Mrs. Chadwick from her seat on the couch above her husband who was sitting on a pillow cushion that had been placed on the soft carpet floor.

Mrs. Hawthorne just smiled and started to read, **The Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick**.

She turned the book over to read the back. **The book club is about to get a makeover…Even if Megan would rather be at the mall, Cassidy is late for hockey practice, Emma's already read every book in existence, and Jess is missing her mother too much to care, the new book club is scheduled to meet every month. But what begins as a mom-inspired ritual of reading **_**Little Women**_** soon helps four unlikely friends navigate the drama of middle school. From stolen journals to secret crushes to a fashion-fiasco first dance, the girls are up to their Wellie boots in drama. They can't help but wonder: What would Jo March do?**

Cassidy looked at the front cover and read.

**Drama is required reading.**

"Hey Jess, the girl on the front cover looks like you," said Meagan.

"How does this author know what I look like," Jess said in a panicked tone as she rested her head against her new boyfriend, Darcy Hawthorne, from her spot on the floor.

"I think we will all find out once we start reading. You should probably continue reading Phoebe," said Mr. Hawthorne.

**Autumn. **

_**"Once upon a time, there were four girls, who had enough to eat and drink and wear, a good many comforts and pleasures, kind friends and parents, who loved them dearly, and yet they were not contented." – Louisa May Alcott, Little Women**_

"That was a dead on description about us," muttered Cassidy, though everyone was able to hear and agreed with her.

**Emma**

_**"'It's so dreadful to be poor!' sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress."**_

"Why would you say that Megan?" asked Darcy.

"I didn't say that, but I think it's a quote from _Little Women_ to describe the chapter," said Megan.

**"Nice skirt, Emma," calls Becca Chadwick, giving me the once-over as I head down the aisle of the school bus looking for a seat.**

"Wait, we're going to be reading about our thoughts. How did the author get our thoughts?" Emma said as she panicked and voiced what everyone was thinking.

"I have no idea how this author knows about what went on inside your head, but yes it seems like we are going to look inside the heads of you, Meagan, Cassidy, and Jess for our first year of book club.

Meagan, Emma, Jess, and Cassidy looked surprised and scared with this new information. Becca smiled, though, because she was pleased that no one would know about her thoughts.

"I just want to say something on behalf of you girls and everyone here," said Meagan's grandmother Gigi from her spot near the window on the recliner, "I am assuming that there are instances that you girls and all the mothers would regret now. This all happened years ago and is water under the bridge. It will do no good to fight over anything that is heard now, but I would like you to apologize if you felt really sorry about anything you said or thought. However, do not apologize constantly. Is everyone clear?"

Everyone nodded their heads and murmured, "Yes, Gigi," before she motioned Phoebe to continue.

**This is not a compliment and I know it and she knows it. Blushing, I slide into the first empty spot I find. My brother Darcy passes me, heading for the last few rows, which, by tradition, are reserved for eighth graders.**

"My turn. Emma, Jess Cassidy, Megan I owe you guys a huge apology. I am really, really sorry if I ever said or did anything that hurt you. I would take it all back because you four are some of the best friends I ever had and I hope it stays that way," said Becca as a tear threatened to fall.

The other four embraced her in a hug. "We know, Becca. It's all over and everything is good now," said Meagan.

**Behind me, I hear Becca whisper something to Ashley Sanborn. I hunch down and smooth a crease in my skirt, my stomach clenching in all-too-familiar anxiety. It's starting already. I'd hoped maybe sixth grade would be different.**

"And it was, all for good reasons," Emma said as she smiled at the rest of the book-club.

**"Must have been a big back-to-school sale at the thrift store," says Ashley, her lame attempt at sarcasm producing a burst of laughter from Becca.**

"It wasn't that funny," Becca said scolding her past self.

**As the bus doors whoosh shut and we lurch forward down Lowell Road, I force myself to ignore them both and look out the window instead. The familiar scenery is soothing, and I feel myself relax a little as we cross the quiet waters of the Concord River and pass stately old colonial houses and meadows hemmed by time-worn stone walls. In a few weeks the leaves on all the trees will start to turn, quilting the woods with New England's famous blaze of yellow and scarlet and orange.**

"Wow Emma, your thoughts are even like a writer's," Stewart said laughing as he patted his now scowling girlfriend who was sitting below him on the floor.

**Here and there amongst the thickets I spot fat clusters of wild Concord grapes. They'll be ripe soon, and just thinking about the way the thick purple skins burst when I bite down, releasing the sour juiciness inside, makes my mouth start to water.**

"Anybody else hungry," asked Mr. Chadwick. When everybody nodded, Mr. Hawthorne took all the dads to the kitchen to help prepare some snacks since everyone had already eaten lunch.

"You go on, honey, we can hear it from here," Mr. Hawthorne said.

**As we turn onto Barnes Hill Road and begin our slow circle back toward town, I pull a notebook from my backpack and open to a fresh page. "Ode to September,"**

"Ah, poetry," said Stewart to Emma, who pouted.

**I write across the top. I chew the eraser on my pencil, pondering my opening line. But instead of writing verse, I find myself stewing about how much I hate the first day of school.**

"I think we can all agree Emma, that the first day of school nearly always sucks," said Mr. Wong as he came back into the room with the other dads carrying trays of snacks and drinks.

**I never used to. When I was little, I could hardly wait for it to start. I'd get all excited about my new lunchbox and pencils and stuff, and I'd wear my new shoes around for weeks to break them in.**

"Awwww," said all the mothers, Darcy, and Stewart while Emma just blushed.

**Then a couple of years ago, in fourth grade, everything changed. Suddenly it was all about who's popular and who's not and if you're wearing the right thing. Which I never am. Ever.**

"That's not true Em, you're popular now," said Jess as the other three nodded.

**The bus wheezes to a stop in front of the Bullet Hole House. It's called the Bullet Hole House even though the Anderson family owns it because two hundred and fifty years ago during the Revolutionary War, a retreating redcoat - that's what they use to call British soldiers - fired at it. Well, at Elisha Jones, who lived in the house back then. He was a minuteman and he'd accidentally slept through the skirmish across the street at the Old North Bridge. **

"How could he possibly sleep through a battle?" Asked Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid, shaking her head.

**He was standing there in his doorway watching the British retreat when it happened. Sometimes I think about the Jones family, who were probably sitting at their breakfast table when **_**wham!**_** - all of a sudden a bullet hits the house. I'd have been scared to death. At least it missed Elisha.**

**Anyway, the hole is still there and there's a little sign explaining all about it. The Bullet Hole House is on all the maps of Concord, and tourists are always stopping to take pictures of it. They take pictures of everything in our town. You can't turn around in Concord, Massachusetts, without bumping into history, my dad says, and I guess he's right.**

"You guess he's right? Honey, I'm always right," said Mr. Hawthorne in a pompous voice. Emma and Mrs. Hawthorne just rolled their eyes while everyone else laughed.

**The front door opens and someone runs out, but it isn't a minuteman and it isn't a redcoat, it's only Kyle Anderson. **

"Woohoo! Go Kyle!" Shouted Darcy on behalf of his friend.

**He swats me on the head as he passes my seat. It's more of a big brother swat than a mean swat, though. I've known Kyle since I was in diapers.**

"Is that the reason why I had to go through him and Darcy to be allowed to date you," said Stewart.

"That's one of the reasons," Emma giggled as Stewart muttered under his breath.

**"Hey, Emma," he says.**

**"Hey, Kyle."**

**Behind me, Becca and Ashley chorus their hellos too, but Kyle ignores them and takes a seat beside my brother. Kyle and Darcy are best friends.**

"And there's the other one," said Emma. Stewart's muttering increased while Darcy just gave him a Cheshire – cat grin.

**The bus lumbers on, round white-steepled Monument Square and on past Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where all the famous people of Concord are buried, patriots and soldiers and writers like Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott. As we swing onto Old Bedford Road, the final leg of the bus ride to Walden Middle School, I start to feel sick. The butterflies in my stomach feel more like a herd of buffalo, and I'm worried I might throw up like I did the first day of kindergarten. **

Stewart sat up a little straighter in his seat. Emma just groaned.

**My mother loves to tell the story of how when she dropped me off in the classroom that day, my teacher leaned down to say hello, and I was so nervous I threw up all over her shoes. "Emma really made a splash," is my mother's punchline. It always gets a laugh.**

"You'll have to tell me the rest of the story at a later time Mrs. Hawthorne," said Stewart with a grin.

"Of course, Stewart, and I'll be sure to tell it in great detail," said Mrs. Hawthorne as she gave him a similar grin right back.

Emma looked between the two of them, horrified, and then buried her face in a pillow while everyone else looked on, laughing.

**I don't feel like laughing now, though. I close my eyes and breathe deeply, trying to calm the stampeding buffalo. I can only imagine the impression I'll make on my first day of middle school if I walk into the classroom and barf.**

"Yeah, I don't believe it would make a very good one," said Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid shuddering at the thought of barfing on her clothes.

**It doesn't help that I can hear Becca and Ashley whispering about my skirt again. I feel my face grow hot and I wish for the millionth time that my mother hadn't made me wear it. **

"Sorry honey," said Mrs. Hawthorne.

"It's okay mom. I really did like it," said Emma.

**It's pretty and everything, and nearly brand-new, but still, it's a hand-me-down. My mother said it looked fine and that no one would ever know, but I knew better.**

**The bus slows as we reach Half Moon Farm, but there are no Delaneys at the bus stop except Jess's dog Sugar, looking mournful, so we keep going. Jess's mom always drives her and her brothers on the first day of school. Her dad must have decided to keep up the family tradition this year. I wish he hadn't.**

"Sorry Emma," said Mr. Delaney.

"No worries Mr. Delaney. It wasn't horrible," said Emma.

**Not that Jess could make Becca and Ashley any nicer - that would take complete personality transplants – **

Cassidy turned to Becca and said jokingly, "You never told us you got a personality transplant. Everything makes so much sense now."

Becca put her hand on her heart. "Glad to know that's what you really think of me," she said in a mock offended tone as everyone else laughed.

**but it always makes me feel better having my best friend around.**

"Everything is better when your friends are with you," said Mrs. Chadwick as everyone nodded.

**Trying to block out their comments, I concentrate on my poem again. I'm working on finding a good rhyme for "grape" (ape? cape? tape?)**

"No," said Stewart, "I, um, don't really think any of those would work."

"Me neither," giggled Emma.

**when we pull up in front of the middle school.**

**Mom made Darcy promise to take care of me this morning, and he herds me confidently through the crowded lobby. Everybody's pushing and shoving as they crowd around the lists posted on the wall by the office. Darcy runs his finger down the sixth grade homerooms and jabs at my name when he spots it.**

**"Miss Morales, 6-C," he says. I must look panicked because he smiles at me and pats my shoulder. Darcy's pretty nice, for a brother.**

"Thanks, Em," said Darcy as he ruffled his little sister's hair much to her annoyance.

**"Don't worry," he tells me. "You'll like her."**

**"How about Jess?"**

**He looks at the list again, then shakes his head. "Sorry, Em - she's in 6-B with Mr. Flanagan. But he's a good dude too."**

**As Darcy steers me down the hall toward 6-C, I console myself with the thought that Jess and I will still probably see each other for most of our classes. We're both in all the advanced groups.**

**"Have fun!" my brother says, leaving me at my homeroom door.**

**I nod weakly, still feeling nauseous. No one pays me the slightest bit of attention as I walk in. They're all too busy looking for their name tags. I circle the desks nervously, hunting for mine. Great.**

"Wait, what happened?" said Mrs. Wong.

**Miss Morales put me right across from Megan Wong.**

"And here it goes," said Megan sighing. Mrs. Wong looked over at Megan, wondering what her daughter said when she wasn't around that would make Emma feel horrible about sitting next to Meagan.

**I slip into my seat and slant a quick glance at her. Megan is flipping her perfect, shoulder-length black hair**

Megan made a face. "My hair's not actually perfect. I want Jess's hair."

Jess looked at Megan incredulously. "Why on earth would you want my hair?"

"Everyone wants your hair," said Becca, and everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

**around and showing off her new earrings to Ashley and Becca. She must have gotten her ears pierced over summer vacation.**

**Jen Webster arrives and comes over to join them. The four of them travel in a pack, like wolves.**

"You all acted like a pack of wolves that year," said Jess quietly.

Becca and Meagan fidgeted in their seats as everyone strared at them.

**The Fab Four, Darcy calls them. They like it when he says that. That's because they like my brother.**

Darcy just blushed as everyone else laughed.

**Darcy's a jock, and the girls all think he's cute and call our house all the time to talk to him.**

"Emma! You told me that it was Kyle and the guys prank-calling me!" shouted Darcy.

"Don't tell me you actually wanted to talk to them Darcy," said Emma innocently.

"No, but it would have been nice to know about," mumbled Darcy while Jess absent-mindedly patted his knee "consolingly".

**Darcy and I both have the same short, curly brown hair and brown eyes, but so far, nobody thinks I'm cute.**

"I beg to differ," whispered Stewart to Emma while her mom just kept reading. Emma smiled at him and rested her head on his legs.

**"You're just a late bloomer," my mother tells me. "Be patient." This is mom-code for "My daughter is an ugly duckling and I'm hoping she'll turn out to be a swan,"**

"Emma. That is not what it means," exclaimed Mrs. Hawthorne.

"So then what is it mom – code for," smirked Emma, knowing she got her mother there.

Emma's mom was speechless while everyone else just chuckled. "Teenagers and their logic," muttered Mrs. Hawthorne under her breath.

**but still, it's comforting to hear. Especially when you don't see so much as a single swan feather yet when you look in the mirror.**

**I watch the Fab Four surreptitiously while I unpack my school supplies and organize my desk. Becca Chadwick is the queen bee. I learned this from a book my mother was reading over the summer about adolescent girls. She's a librarian and she's always reading books to try and understand me and my brother better.**

Mrs. Hawthorne blushed while everyone in the room laughed.

"You just proved it by bringing this book home, Phoebe," chuckled Stanley as he bounced his new daughter on his knee.

**Queen bees are the ones who end up being the boss. How this works, I have no idea, but every group has one. They're popular and stuck-up and they aren't generally very nice to the regular bees. That's certainly true for Becca Chadwick. And for Megan and Ashley and Jen, too. The three of them are like the queen bee's court - "wannabees," Jess and I call them.**

Becca and Meagan looked down at their laps, ashamed at the behavior of their younger selves.

**The sad thing is that Megan Wong used to be my friend. Almost as good a friend as Jess.**

"Thanks Emma. I'm glad to know I meant that much to you," she said in mock hurt.

"No problem Megs," said Emma as Meagan playfully punched her.

**We used to play Barbies for hours after school in her sunroom. Megan made the most amazing clothes for them. I still have some of the little dresses and hats and things that she sewed. Then in fourth grade I got glasses and Megan's father invented some computer gizmo and made a bazillion dollars, and that was the end of that.**

"Emma, did it really ruin your friendship with Meagan," asked Mr. Wong worried.

"It might have contributed to it Mr. Wong," Emma said quietly, so quietly than barely anybody heard her, least of all Mr. Wong across the room.

**Now Megan's all rich and conceited. The sunroom is long gone - her family traded the cozy condo it belonged to for a house that looks like a museum. Or an airplane hangar.**

The whole room laughed at that. Even the Wongs.

"Don't forget ice-rink and snowglobe," Cassidy said when she finally stopped to breathe.

**And Megan traded me for Becca, Ashley, and Jen.**

Everyone sobered up after that.

**Someone slides into the seat beside me. I look over. It's Zach Norton. His hair is bleached streaky blond from the sun and he smells like summer. The buffalo start thundering in my stomach again.**

"So, the buffalos and Norton will probably come up together a lot in this book?" Stewart asked Emma as he fought to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

"Probably," said Emma blushing. Stewart attempted to keep his emotions in check while trying to not think about doing horrible things to Zach.

**"Hi," I manage to whisper.**

**"Hey, Emma," he replies casually, then turns away and starts throwing wadded up balls of paper at Ethan MacDonald. Ethan bats them back at him with a ruler. The Fab Four are practically shrieking with laughter at something Megan just said, trying to get Zach's attention, but he doesn't notice. He's too busy with his baseball game. Why is it that girls think boys will notice them if they're loud, anyway?**

"I think we did it because we thought that the more annoying we are, the more they will have to notice us," said Becca.

**I stare at the back of Zach's neck. He obviously just got a haircut, because there's a slim line of white skin between where his tan stops and where the edge of his sun-bleached hair begins, like the curl of surf against a sandy beach. I contemplate it for a while, then look around the room feeling a little better. Even if he ignores me all year, I'm still sitting next to Zach Norton. Things could be a whole lot worse. I could have been stuck at a desk beside Cassidy Sloane, for instance.**

"Hey," said Cassidy pretending to look offended.

"Sorry Cassidy, I really didn't mean it. I judged you before I knew you all that well," said Emma in a rush to make sure that Cassidy didn't take what Emma thought in the book to heart.

"Slow down, Em. I was just joking. Honest, I am fine. I know that you all really care deep down," said Cassidy.

**She's new - she moved here from California at the end of fifth grade - and her mom used to be a fashion model, but you'd never know it by looking at Cassidy. She has red hair she never combs**

"I comb it. It just never feels like cooperating," said Cassidy as her mother just shook her head.

**and scabby knees, and all she thinks about is sports, sports, sports.**

"What's wrong with that?" asked Cassidy.

"Nothing…"

**"How about those Red Sox!" Zach yells over at her, and Cassidy grins and gives him a thumbs-up. The two of them played together on the same Little League team over the summer. I know this because they used to practice right before my brother Darcy's team. Sometimes I'd ride my bike over early just so I could watch Zach. Not that anyone ever suspected, of course. They all thought I was there to watch Darcy.**

**I get up to sharpen my pencil and make a mental note to start following the Red Sox so I'll have something to talk about with Zach. On the way back to my desk, I notice Megan staring at my skirt.**

**"Nicole Patterson had a skirt just like that last year," she says. "I wonder what she did with it?"**

Meagan silently cursed herself for saying that to Emma. She knew the Hawthornes were always tight on cash. There was no need to say such a low thing.

**Becca and Ashley and Jen all snicker, right on cue. They're like one another's own personal laugh track. I feel my face turning hot with humiliation. The Pattersons go to our church. Nicole is an eighth grader like my brother, and her parents are always loading bags of her hand-me-downs into our station wagon after Sunday School. My mother says it's wonderfully generous of them and a big help to our family budget, but I'd give anything not to have to wear Nicole's rejects.**

**The rest of the day goes pretty much downhill from there, with the Fab Four needling me every opportunity they get. I'm close to tears by the time the last class rolls around. Thankfully, none of them are in the advanced group for science.**

"Thank god," said Meagan, Becca, and Cassidy.

**Science is okay. Nobody I know really loves it except Jess and Kevin Mullins, who skipped about four grades and is, like, eight, and will probably be accepted at Harvard before the rest of us even start high school. Jess loves it, of course. She would - she's a total brainiac. I'm smart enough, especially at reading and writing, but Jess is a **_**genius**_**. And if truth be told, a bit of a nerd. She took the math part of the SAT last spring - for fun. Who takes the SAT for fun? When they're not even twelve yet?**

"You're probably right Em," chuckled Jess, "but I don't mind being a nerd."

**Our science teacher, Mr. Reed, passes around a bunch of handouts and then launches into a speech about the joys of middle school science.**

**"This year one of the exciting things we'll be doing is dissecting cow eyes," he tells us in the kind of voice usually reserved for telling your family you're taking them to Disney World.**

"That probably felt like Disney World to him," said Mr. Hawthorne, "That man hasn't left Concord since he was born, said it would be too risky for him."

**I tug on Jess's braid to get her to look over her shoulder at me - she has the most amazingly gorgeous thick blonde hair, which she wears in a braid down her back - and when she does I roll my eyes and moo quietly. Jess giggles. Mr. Reed drones on, and I'm yawning like crazy when the bell finally rings and school is over.**

"Emma, you need to pay attention in class," scolded Mrs. Hawthorne.

"Um mom, you know you're talking to a book right," said Emma.

Mrs. Hawthorne just blushed as the rest of the room laughed.

**Outside, Mr. Delaney is waiting in the pickup to take us home. Mrs. Delaney always used to do this, but she's away right now. We stop for ice cream**

"YUM!" shouted Cassidy.

**to celebrate (celebrate what? not barfing at school? not crying in front of the Fab Four?),**

Cassidy looked thoughtful and then she said, "All of the above."

**then head back to Half Moon Farm. Jess's dad drops us at the end of the driveway.**

**"I'll be back in a bit," he tells us. "I have to pick up the twins." Dylan and Ryan, Jess's little brothers, are first graders at Emerson Elementary. "Don't forget, you have a voice lesson in an hour, Jess."**

**Jess makes a face as her father drives away. "I hate voice lessons," she grumbles.**

Mrs. Delaney winced because she knew why her daughter hated the voice lessons, even if she loves to sing.

**"Why?" I ask. Jess adores music, and she has the voice of an angel.**

And now that Emma thought about it (I mean really thought about it) she knew why, too.

**She lifts a shoulder in a half shrug. "I don't know, I just do."**

**Jess never used to take voice lessons before her mother went away. A luxury farmers can't afford, Mr. Delaney always said. I guess organic farming isn't exactly the best-paying job in the world.**

"No, not really, but we do fine," said Mr. Delaney.

**Delaneys have owned Half Moon Farm for generations, but it was Jess's dad who decided to make it all-organic. He plows the fields with a pair of big Belgian draft horses named Led and Zep - after his favorite rock group, Led Zeppelin.**

**The Delaneys have chickens for fresh eggs and goats for milk and cheese and an apple orchard for fruit and pies, and depending on the season they sell all kinds of fresh herbs and berries and vegetables. Jess and I always help out at the farm stand in the summer. It's fun.**

"So I can expect the help of all 5 of you next week when we open the stand?" asked Mr. Delaney. All of the girls nodded although Becca did it after a second of thought.

**Anyway, now that Mrs. Delaney has this new job as an actress, I guess she's making lots of money and sending some of it home for luxuries like voice lessons.**

**Inside the house, we each grab an apple off the kitchen counter. Jess shoos Dolly Parton back outside. Not the country singer - a chicken. Mrs. Delaney loves country music, and she named all of the hens after her favorite stars. Sometimes they sneak into the house if somebody forgets to latch the back screen door. It's pretty funny to see them wandering around. Once Patsy Cline hopped up on the sofa beside us and laid an egg. Jess and I about died laughing.**

As did all the occupants of the room.

**"Hey, it's three thirty," I tell Jess, glancing at the clock over the stove.**

**We take our backpacks up to her room. Sugar, Jess's Shetland sheepdog, is close on our heels. Jess flips on the TV.**

**"Hi, Mom!" she says, as her mother's face appears on the screen.**

**I wave. "Hi, Mrs. Delaney!"**

**Sugar barks.**

**Jess's mom is on a soap opera called **_**HeartBeats**_**. She went to New York out of the blue last month to audition, and she got the part. She found an apartment and she's living there for now. I'm not really sure when she's planning to come back home. Jess doesn't like to talk about it much, but she watches her mother's show every day.**

Mrs. Delaney nearly cried. She gathered the two girls into a hug and went back to her seat.

**"Her hair looks good like that," I say.**

**Jess nods and takes a bite of her apple.**

**Sugar barks at the TV screen again as Jess's mother starts talking to the actress who plays her best friend. Sugar misses Mrs. Delaney too. And her sister. The Delaneys actually have two shelties - Sugar and Spice. Mr. Delaney got them for Jess and her mother for Valentine's Day a couple of years ago. They were the most adorable puppies I've ever seen. **

**Mrs. Delaney took Spice to New York with her to keep her from getting lonely.**

**After a while we turn the volume down. The dialogue on **_**HeartBeats**_** is unbelievably lame. I don't know how Jess's mother can keep her face straight when she says her lines. Honestly, I could write better stuff than that.**

"You could and you did," snickered Cassidy. Everybody who knew what she was talking about laughed, while Cassidy told everyone else, "You'll see."

**"Help me with my math homework?" I ask Jess.**

**"Sure," she replies. Jess has skipped ahead to algebra this year, with Darcy and Kyle. I'm in regular sixth grade math. I'm terrible at it. Jess has been my tutor since, like, kindergarten.**

**Keeping an occasional eye on the TV screen, we do our homework together, and by the time we're finished Mr. Delaney is back and ready to take Jess to her voice lesson. He drops me off at home on the way.**

**"See you tomorrow!" Jess calls out the window.**

**"See you!" I call back, and go inside.**

**My dad is just putting dinner on the table. He does all the cooking in our family. He says it's easier this way because he works at home, but I think it's self-defense. My mother is a terrible cook. She admits it, too. She says she can't even boil water.**

"Phoebe, remind me to give you cooking lessons," said Mrs. Sloane.

"I am warning you, even if your cooking show is up for another season, you won't be able to teach a hopeless case," Mrs. Hawthorne said.

"It's true," said her husband. Emma's mom gave him a look.

"You said it yourself Phoebe."

"Yeah, but you're not supposed to agree with me," whined Mrs. Hawthorne.

**"So, how was your first day back at school?" my father asks as we take our seats.**

**"Great!" says Darcy.**

**"Okay, I guess," I mumble.**

**My mother looks at me sharply. "Just okay?"**

**I shrug.**

"What did you think I was going to say mom?" said Emma. In a high voice she said, "The happiest day of my life?"

Everyone laughed while Mrs. Hawthorne said, "Something along those lines."

**"Maybe some comfort food will help," says my father, passing me a plate heaped with his special homemade meat loaf and mashed potatoes.**

**"Better give me some of that too," says my mother. "I had a meeting with the head of the library board this afternoon."**

"Uh-oh," said Mr. Hawthorne, Mrs. Hawthorne, and Mrs. Chadwick at the same time.

**"Calliope Chadwick?" my father replies, serving her up an extra-generous helping. "And how is the wasp and her colossal bottom?"**

Mrs. Chadwick winced internally as she heard the words.

"Nick, what you did was uncalled for!" shouted Mrs. Hawthorne.

**"Nicholas Hawthorne!" my mother scolds. "Little pitchers!"**

**That's little pitchers as in "Little pitchers have big ears." In other words, Darcy and me. **

**My father looks over at us. He grins. We grin back. Calliope Chadwick's sharp tongue and extra-large backside are well-known around Concord.**

**"You object to my use of the word 'colossal'?" my dad says to my mother, the picture of innocence. "You would prefer, perhaps, 'gargantuan'?"**

"I am sorry Calliope," Mr. Hawthorne said, hanging his head in shame. "It was unfair to you. You are in truth a good person and a person I am honored to call friend."

**"How about 'enormous'?" offers Darcy.**

"I am sorry Mrs. Chadwick. What I said was unjust and I hope you can forgive me."

**"'Vast'?" I suggest, feeling a twinge of guilt for poking fun at Mrs. Chadwick. I'm short, but I'm not exactly what you'd call petite myself.**

**"'Immense'?" counters my brother.**

"I'm sorry Mrs. Chadwick. You are a very nice woman and I feel awful about what I said. It was undeserved. Please forgive us," said Emma.

**"Enough!" cries my mother, trying to suppress her laughter.**

"Calliope, I am sorry. We are sorry. We did not know you as well as we do now, but all of us are forever thankful that we met you and your family. I really hope you can forgive us," Mrs. Hawthorne said.

"Alright NO MORE APOLOGIZING! I don't really care THAT much!"

**The synonym game is a time-honored Hawthorne family tradition. She looks around the table at us, shaking her head. **

**"Honestly, what am I going to do with you three? You are incorrigible. And, Nicholas, you're the worst offender. We're supposed to be teaching our children to respect their elders!"**

**"We **_**are**_** teaching them to respect their elders," my dad says cheerfully. "Those that are worthy of respect. It's no secret that Calliope Chadwick has a shrewish temper, and there's no point pretending we can't all see her massive - "**

"No, I don't think I was worthy of respect back then either."

**My mother holds up both hands. "Cease and desist!"**

**My father smoothly changes the subject. "Did I tell you that the Boston **_**Post**_** sent me a new Austen biography to review?"**

**All thoughts of the Chadwick posterior fly instantly out of my mother's head.**

Mrs. Chadwick laughed and said, "That's nice, Phoebe. Now I know what to bribe you with."

"So do you forgive us?" asked Mrs. Hawthorne in a quiet voice.

"Yes. All of you are my friends now and like Gigi said it's all in the past now."

**"Is it any good?" she replies, her eyes lighting up with excitement. "Can I read it when you're done? Can I read it first?"**

**Books are my parents' life. My mom is a librarian at the Concord Public Library, and my dad's a freelance writer. Not surprisingly, books are a frequent topic of discussion around our house.**

**Particularly books by Jane Austen. My mother is an Austen nut. She even named my brother and me after characters in her favorite Jane Austen novels. It's a good thing my brother is as popular as he is, because a name like Darcy could get him in a whole lot of trouble otherwise.**

"It would, wouldn't it," chuckled Darcy. "It was all I thought about on my first day of middle school."

**But nobody at school teases my brother about much of anything. First of all, everybody likes him, **

"Woohoo!" shouted Darcy. "I knew you liked me!" he told Emma.

**and second of all, he's six feet tall already and a lineman on the football team. And captain of the middle school hockey team two years in a row now, and as if that weren't enough, he's an All-Star baseball pitcher to boot. The high school coaches are practically drooling at the thought of getting him on their teams next year.**

"Really?" Darcy frowned. "How come I never noticed that?"

"Because you don't have enough room for anything but yourself in that big head of yours?" said Emma innocently.

**It's not until dessert (chocolate pudding - more "comfort food") that the subject of Mrs. Chadwick comes up again.**

**"So tonight's the big night for you two girls, right?" my dad asks, gazing at my mother and me.**

**I give him a blank look. My mother smiles that smile she pulls out when she's up to something. The one that makes her look just like Melville our cat after he's made a successful raid on the bird feeder.**

"I did not look like that Emma," said Emma's mom while the rest of the room burst into laughter.

"Yes mom. Yes you did."

**"That's right," she says. "Although if Calliope has her way, it may not get off the ground."**

**My dad takes a bite of pudding. "How did she find out? Is she in your yoga class?"**

**"No, though it would doubtless do her some good." My mother bites her lip at this uncharitable slip, then continues primly,**

"It did though, so don't feel bad about saying it." Mrs. Cahdwick told Mrs. Hawthorne as she opened her mouth. "And I already told you not to apologize anymore."

**"She's objecting on the grounds that the library charter forbids private clubs from meeting on public property, but I think it's because she's miffed at the member list."**

"I was to be honest, because Becca wasn't invited."

**My eyes are bouncing from one of them to the other like a spectator at a tennis match. I'm completely clueless here.**

**"Well, don't let it spoil your big night," my father says.**

**"What big night?" I ask suspiciously.**

**My mother turns to me. "I have a little surprise for you," she tells me. "After yoga class, some of the other mothers and I were talking - "**

**"Uh-oh," I say. I can't help it. "Some of the other mothers and I were talking" is mom-code for "You're not going to like what's coming next."**

**My mother sighs. "Don't look at me like that, Emma," she says. "You haven't even heard what I'm going to say."**

"There is no reason at all to be suspicious Emma," sighed Mrs. Hawthorne.

Emma gave her an 'Oh really' look and told her mother to keep reading.

**It doesn't matter. Whatever it is, I know for sure I won't like it. Last time my mother started a sentence that way, I ended up in ballet class. Talk about total humiliation. People built like me are not meant to wear leotards. We're maybe meant to bring in the harvest or something. The time before that, I got to volunteer at a local animal shelter, which wasn't so bad until that windbag of a parrot nearly bit off my finger. I could go on - the list is endless.**

"Don't have a reason to be suspicious at all do I?" said Emma while Mrs. Hawthorne blushed and everyone else in the room laughed.

**My mother ignores my expression. "We've decided to start a mother-daughter book club," she says in her best Mrs. Hawthorne-the-librarian voice, "and tonight's our first meeting. Won't that be fun?"**

"I don't have a Mrs. Hawthorne-the-librarian voice."

**Darcy groans. He looks over at my father. "Man, Dad, am I glad you don't do yoga."**

"And I still am!" announced Darcy.

**I stare at my mother. I must look like she's just informed me that she's planning to shave both our heads, because she bursts out laughing.**

**"Come on, Emma, it's not **_**that**_** bad," she says.**

**"Who else is going to be there?" I demand, suddenly putting two and two together and getting four, for once. "Did Mrs. Chadwick make you invite Becca?"**

**My mother smiles her sly, catlike smile again. "You'll have to wait and see," she tells me loftily. "Don't worry - it's going to be great, I promise."**

**But I know better. It's just like Nicole Patterson's hand-me-downs. It's not going to be great at all. It's going to be a disaster**

"It was," said Emma, "but the good kind of disaster.

"That's the end," said Mrs. Hawthorne. She was about to hand over the book to Mrs. Wong when…

"Wait this note fell out from the book," said Gigi. She started to read, "To those who are reading this book, we are from the future…

A/N Hey everyone I am really sorry about getting this out so late and I promise to do better now on.

A huge thank you to everyone who even bothered to look at this story, read this story and alerted :

Artemis GoH

Ncisgal123

And a huge thank you to my beta hplover321 who I hope can forgive me for being an impatient pest :). I'll update this chapter with her edits later. Thanks everyone.


	3. Megan

**Discalimer: Everything here owned by Heather Vogel Frederick except what came out of my own mind.**_  
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**A ton of thanks to my beta hplover321 and wishing her a ton of get-well soons!**

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><p><em>"That's the end," said Mrs. Hawthorne. She was about to hand over the book to Mrs. Wong when…<em>

_"Wait this note fell out from the book," said Gigi. She started to read, "To those who are reading this book, we are from the future…_

_To those who are reading this book,_

_**We are from the future and are the ones who have sent these books back to you by means of a time-machine.**_

We come from a future where the book club did break apart and never got back together again. It has been the worst decision we have ever made.

**We have sent you the books that contain all 5 years of book club so everyone can learn from their mistakes and create a better future for the girls and their families.**

_Yes, we know that it is going to be a little embarrassing to have everyone reading your thoughts, but it'll lift you up when things become all emotional and junk. Call it comic relief._

_Learn to forgive, learn to let go, and learn to be happy. It's never too late to change the future! _

_Happy reading._

_**M.W**_**.,** J.D., **E.H., **_C.S.__, B.C._

"Well at least we now know who sent those books," Mr. Wong said, "Your future selves, girls."

"How bad would the future be if we were going to break up the book club? Our future selves only said that if we did the future would be bad," questioned Jess in a worried tone.

"Maybe it might have been beyond words Jess and your future selves had the forethought to not scare you about it. But here is what I think and thought about what would happen if you were to not have the book club anymore. All of your lives would get busy and you would still stay in touch to a certain extent, but it would be complicated at best. Fast forward to about 5 years later when all of you are in college, I think, and I believe I am speaking for all of the mothers here when I say this," said Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid as all of the mothers nodded, "that breaking apart the book club would push away your true friends. Yes you would have other friends in the future, but none that are anywhere close to how you five feel about each other because only the five of you can understand each other."

Cassidy's mom finished her thoughts on the note to the quiet of everyone in the room thinking about what she had just said.

"You're right, any future where I don't have the distinct pleasure of annoying all of them is just awful," said Cassidy as she gave a horrified gasp at the thought. It helped her to not have to think about a future where she would never see her four best friends again. She smiled as her comment made everyone laugh and release the tension that has been in the room ever since they found the note.

"You probably won't have to worry about that now Cassidy," said Mrs. Chadwick, "Let's finish reading about your past and then worry about your future. Lily you should probably start reading."

Mrs. Wong took the book from Emma's mom and began to read.

**Megan**

**"Conceit spoils the finest genius."**

"That's true. I've seen so many designers who had the potential to be amazing, but their big egos got in the way of their success. It's good that you don't have an ego, Megan," said Cassidy's mom.

**"You can go shopping anytime," my mother tells me.**

**I don't answer. Instead, I pull my cell phone out of my purse and take a picture of my face - mad - and send it to Becca. Then I text her: CAN U BELIEVE IT?**

**NO, she texts back. I CAN'T!**

"I couldn't believe it because it sounded like something my mom would make me do and then when I she didn't take me to book club, I thought it wasn't good enough to go to," said Becca.

**Becca's mother was going to drive us to the mall tonight to celebrate our first day of middle school, but now I can't go. My stupid mother's signed us up for some stupid book club without even asking me!**

"Would it have really mattered if I did ask you?" said Mrs. Wong in a voice that betrayed her hurt from the last sentence.

Sensing this, Megan went to sit between her mom and dad and gave her mother a hug. "No, but I am glad you didn't ask me and I don't think that way about any of it anymore. I'm sorry mom."

Her mom hugged her back and went back to the book.

**"By the way, honey, that catalogue came today," she says, turning into the parking lot across the street from the library. "Remember? The one I told you about? For the science-and-math camp in New Hampshire next summer?" She reaches over and pats my hand. I pull it away. I have no interest in going to science-and-math camp, and she knows it.**

**"High school is just around the corner for you now, Megan," she continues blithely. "Your skills could definitely use a boost, especially if you want to get into Colonial Academy."**

**I glance past the library at the line of stately white buildings that house our town's famous private school. I have even less interest in attending Colonial Academy than I do in going to science-and-math camp. "Forget it, Mom. I don't want - "**

**She pats my hand again. "You're too young to know what you want, sweetie. That's what your father and I are here for. We only want what's best for you."**

"I can't believe I wasn't able to see that you never wanted to go there. I was so blind," said Mrs. Wong.

**What's best for me? My parents don't know what's best for me - they don't even see me! Especially my mother. She's too busy with all her causes and charities.**

**"Why do we even have to talk about this now?" I grumble. "I'm only in the sixth grade, for Pete's sake."**

**"It's never too soon to think about your future," my mother replies. "You're going to make a difference in this world, Megan. You'll do something unselfish and grand–**

"She did do something unselfish and grand, Lily. I know it's not what you imagined but fashion can still be a great and selfless career," said Mrs. Delaney.

**study environmental law, maybe.**

"No," laughed Megan. "I was never going to do that…"

**And this mother-daughter book club will look great on your application to the academy."**

**I give her a withering look, which she ignores.**

**As usual, my mother hears what she wants to hear, and sees what she wants to see. When she looks at me, she must see some other girl she wishes she had for a daughter - one that's more like the stereotype. You know, studious Chinese-American girl who's a whiz at math and science. Instead, she's stuck with just plain me, Megan Rose Wong. Who likes to hang out at the mall and shop and who wants to be a fashion designer someday, not go to MIT like she and Dad did.**

"Megan Rose Wong, don't ever think like that again! It wouldn't matter to me or your father if you became a fashion designer or went to MIT. We don't want the stereotype, we want the unique you."

**My mother and I are like night and day. The only thing we have in common is our hair color. But she wears hers cut short, in a no-nonsense style that isn't very flattering.**

"And thank god you changed it Lily or I would have fixed it myself if I had to look at that practical style," said Clementine as she shuddered at the thought of a practical hairstyle, "any longer."

"I'm glad my hair is no longer an inconvenience to you Clementine. We wouldn't want the big, bad supermodel to get upset," said Lily drily.

"No you wouldn't want that," said Clementine seriously as the rest of the room laughed.

**She never wears makeup, and her clothes - it's not like she can't afford nice things, for Pete's sake! But no, it's yoga pants and T-shirts with slogans like "Save the Rain Forest" on them,**

Clementine dramatically shuddered again at the thought of wearing yoga pants outside of the house.

**made only of natural fibers of course. My mother's life is dedicated to improving the world. **

"It's not just that. It's also to be there for my family and my friends," Mrs. Wong said as she smiled and looked around the rest of the room.

**The Hawthornes pull into the parking space beside us. They're driving the same tin can they've had since Emma and I were in kindergarten. I'll bet it still smells like moldy french fries. Emma and I used to sit in the backseat after swim lessons at Walden Pond and stuff them down into the seatbelt slots, until her mom caught us and threatened not to buy us any more kids' meals at the drive-thru if we didn't quit it.**

"Yeah Megan, they love the smell of moldy French fries so much that they're not going to clean the car just so they can keep the smell," said Cassidy sarcastically.

**Just then Zach and Ethan and Third - his real name is Cranfield Bartlett III, but everybody calls him Third - swoosh by on their bikes. I open my door quickly and hop out so they'll see me, glad that I wore my yellow sundress and even more glad that we're not driving the Hawthornes' old beater. I would be embarrassed to death to be seen in that thing.**

"Hey, Sally's not old she's a classic," said Mr. Hawthorne in a mock offended tone.

"Sorry, Mr. Wong," said Megan, looking down. She was rude to the Hawthornes, even when she knew they just didn't have the money, and she was mad at herself for that.

**The boys spot me and loop around the parking lot once to show off. I wave casually, like I don't care. They all grin and wave back, then pedal furiously away. Zach glances back over his shoulder one last time before they disappear out of the parking lot. I think he likes me.**

"Fat chance," sang Cassidy. "You weren't the nicest person that year…"

**Beside me, Emma has gotten out of her car too, and I see her staring after Zach. Fat chance. Emma Hawthorne doesn't understand the first thing about boys. The outfits she wears! She's worse than my mother. Tonight, for instance, she's wearing shorts, which at her weight are not flattering, and ratty flip-flops, and her T-shirt, which I'm sure used to be Nicole Patterson's, has some sort of stain on it. Chocolate pudding, maybe?**

After Mrs. Wong finished reading the book a silence came over the room.

"Wow Megs, let it all out why don't you?" Emma tried to say in a light tone, but she couldn't keep the hurt and incredulous tone from seeping into her voice. She quickly excused herself to go to the bathroom and ran out of the room.

Emma's mom and Stewart were about to run after her when Megan said, "Let me, Mrs. H. Please. The both of us need to talk about some things." Megan was horrified and disgusted with herself about what she had thought about Emma. She knew that in the beginning of book club she never had any remotely friendly thoughts about the other 3 girls, but this took the prize for the most insulting thing she has ever thought. There was no competition. Megan thought that something like this would happen when they were reading this book. It wasn't the same with Jess and Cassidy. She had never liked them from the beginning, but she and Emma had been best friends before she became a snobby bitch. Underneath the surface, their friendship had always been rocky because of this. She needed to fix this so that Emma would never doubt their friendship again.

Mrs. Hawthorne, either upon seeing the pleading – upset look on Megan's face (which was likely) or she figured out, with her librarian intuition, what Megan wanted to talk to Emma about (this was more likely), shook her head at Stewart to sit down and let Megan go.

Megan's feet automatically took her to the attic. Whenever Emma had gotten upset when they were younger, she always went to the attic to sit under Mr. Hawthorne's old desk, which got moved up there when Mr. H got a new desk and Emma was 2. She always called it her "cave" where she hid her "treasures" in two drawers that could only be opened with a key. Until Darcy taught Emma how to pick a lock with a bobby pin and a paper clip. One drawer held photos of happy memories with the people she loved, while the other held little keepsakes that lifted her up whenever Emma got really upset. No one ever saw what was in there except for Emma. Not even her four friends, I don't even think she showed Stewart her special drawer. I guess she thought that it would be nice to have secrets no one knew about.

Megan found Emma with the second drawer open. Emma continued looking at something in her hand, not even noticing or hearing that Megan had come into the room. Megan saw the ribbon Jess had given Emma the day the girls found out Stewart kissed her, the hockey stick charm that Cassidy had given Emma for her birthday, the hair clip that was shaped like a writer's quill that Becca had given Emma before she went out on her first date with Stewart, and many other little trinkets inside the drawer. On the desk Emma had the dolls she and Megan had played with when they were little and wearing the clothes Megan had made them. But in Emma's hand, Megan saw the two little t-shirts she made that had the words BFF's on them.

Megan put her hand on Emma's shoulder to let her know that she was there. Emma looked up from her hand startled. She quickly shut the drawer, took of her glasses to wipe the tears with her sleeve, and hid the two shirts in her fist.

"Want to know something?" asked Megan as she went to stand in front of Emma. She leaned herself against the desk.

Emma shrugged her shoulders and just kept looking at the fists in her lap.

"I didn't want to be the stereotype. I never wanted to be what mom and dad wanted me to be. I would do anything to get rid of that image. So I did. I dropped everything that had the chance of making me unpopular. I was already rich because of dad's invention. My clothes became more stylish. And I dropped you," saying the last part quietly, but loud enough so Emma could hear her. A tear fell from Megan's cheek on to the antique cherry wood desk.

Emma didn't look up but she unclenched her fists and put the two little shirts on the desk. She put the shirts on the dolls and then handed the doll with brown hair to Megan and she kept the black-haired doll in her hand. Whenever the girls became angry with each other when they were playing together, they always claimed that they were never going to speak to each other again. They compromised by talking to each other's dolls.

"You know, if you talked to me about it would have been better than being your friend one day and then a person who wasn't worthy to scrape the gum off your shoes the next," said Emma, "I trusted you. I thought you would always be my friend."

"I should have told you. I dropped you like burnt toast and without even an explanation. But I swear Em I will never stop being friends with you or the rest of the book club," pleaded Megan while she looked at the doll, too ashamed to look at Emma.

"Megan you just dumped me as a friend and then became the Fab Four just for the chance to become popular. How do I know you won't do the same thing again? What happened in 7th grade was just a huge misunderstanding, but how do I know that you won't drop us for your dream of becoming a famous fashion designer? It's bad enough that I got stabbed in the back once, I don't need to put myself through that again," said Emma as she struggled to not cry.

"I don't want you to either," said Megan as she walked to Emma and gave her a hug, "because it is never going to happen again."

Emma and Megan barely heard the "GROUP HUG" before they were tackled in the embrace of Cassidy, Jess, and Becca. "The adults are going to get lunch ready after we finish the next two chapters so the faster you get back down the faster we can eat," said Cassidy, "So chop chop finish making up with each other like you know you will."

"We good, Em?" asked Megan hopefully.

"Yeah, we're good Meg!" laughed Emma as she gave Megan another hug.

The book club came back to the room laughing and talking like they normally do. As the girls sat down in a little row on the floor, Mrs. Wong picked up the book and started reading.

**"Hi, Megan!" says Mrs. Hawthorne, all cheery.**

**I grunt in reply, not cheery at all.**

**My mother clamps her hand down on my shoulder. "Manners," she whispers through teeth tightly clenched in a smile.**

**"Mom!" I protest, trying to squirm out of her death grip, then give up and turn back toward Mrs. Hawthorne. "Hi, Mrs. H."**

**"Glad you two could come," Emma's mom replies, winking at my mom. "New car, Lily?"**

**My mother nods proudly. "It's a hybrid. Environmentally friendly, you know, and great on the gas mileage."**

**I feel her death grip relax, and she prods me forward across the street. Inside, we stop at the main desk to say hello to the library staff. They all know my mother. Everybody in town knows my mother. She's on the library's board of trustees, and on the board of just about everything else in Concord. My mother, the charity queen. Ever since my dad sold his invention, she's been on some kind of campaign to give his money away. It's like she feels guilty about it or something.**

"If that's your goal Lily then I'll be happy to take it," said Emma's mom jokingly. The adults had thought it would be best for everyone if they acted as they normally did to lighten the tension in the room.

"I'll be sure to remember that Phoebe," said Mrs. Wong.

**Mrs. Hawthorne leads us into a conference room. A window at the far end overlooks the children's section. Emma and I exchange a hasty glance. We used to go there every week for story hour when we were little. I remember how much I used to look forward to it. But that was a long time ago.**

"If two years is a long time ago then these past five years must have felt like a century," said Darcy.

**I take a seat at the table beside my mother and wonder who else is coming tonight. A second later, the door bangs open and I get my answer as Cassidy Sloane stumps into the room. She glares at us and slams herself into a chair. I'm guessing she doesn't want to be here either.**

"It was partly that but it was also that my mom would sign me up for this but she wouldn't let me go out for hockey," Cassidy said.

**Her mother is right behind her. "Hi, everybody," she says with a weary smile.**

**My mother smiles back. She's probably happy to see that there's somebody in this world with worse manners than mine. "Hi, Clementine!"**

"Hmph, I'm glad you took joy in my pain Lily," said Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid.

"Anytime Clementine," said Mrs. Wong smirking.

"Tsk tsk Cassie, you know you're supposed to have better manners than that," said a new voice from the doorway of the Hawthorne's house.

"Courtney!" shouted Cassidy as she ran to the doorway to hug her older sister. "I thought you were going to stay in California over break?"

"I was but I got a note yesterday in my dorm that I should come here and visit since I haven't see you guys in so long. It was initialed by the five of you so I decided to come to Concord as a surprise. I first went to our house but it was locked and as I was driving around town I saw all of the cars in front of the Hawthornes and thought you were in here. So what is everyone doing?"

Cassidy brought her sister to the room and made her sit next to her mom as everyone explained to her what was going on. She nodded her head looking a tad dazed but told everyone to carry on from where they stopped.

**Mrs. Sloane is gorgeous. She used to be a fashion model - a really famous one, the kind who's known just by her first name. Her face was on the cover of all the top magazines. She still looks like a model. **

"I do?" asks Clementine. When everyone nodded, she smiled. "Thank goodness."

**She's tall and slender with long blonde hair, and she wears the most amazing clothes. I try not to stare, but I can't help it. Her short skirt and T-shirt look casual but I know they're both designer and probably cost a fortune. Her high-heeled sandals show off a perfect pedicure, and she's accessorized with big hoop earrings and a jangle of silver bracelets.**

**I'm tempted to take out my sketchbook and draw her, but I don't.**

"I'm glad I inspire you Megan," said Cassidy's mom.

**My mother would have a cow if she saw my sketchbook, especially after our argument in the car. She hates my sketchbook. She thinks fashion is selfish and stupid. "Frivolous," she calls it. Now if I designed outfits for the homeless, she'd probably think it was okay. An acceptable hobby to pursue in my spare time, after I go to MIT and Harvard Law School and become Super Megan and help save the planet.**

"Hmmm…that could work…" said Mrs. Wong in mock thoughtfulness.

"Mo-om!" protested Megan.

"Kidding, sweetheart!"

**"We'll wait just a few more minutes before we start," says Mrs. Hawthorne, with a nod at the last two empty chairs.**

Jess and Mrs. Delaney sighed at this knowing that one of those chairs wasn't going to be filled.

**We're all quiet for a bit. Cassidy scuffs her feet on the floor, back and forth, back and forth, like an angry metronome. I look at her and her mother curiously. How does a knockout like Clementine Sloane produce a freak like Cassidy? **

"Well, then," huffed Cassidy. She hated that reaction.

**At least my mother and I look similar on the outside. Except for the fact that they're both tall, Cassidy and her mother look like they come from different planets. Why doesn't Mrs. Sloane at least fix her up a little? **

"Because she won't let me," whined Mrs. Sloane.

"And I never will," agreed Cassidy

**Cassidy is plain as a broomstick, with long skinny legs and ratty red hair whose bangs look like she cut them herself with nail scissors. In the dark. And her fashion sense is even more hopeless than Emma's. I stare at her gym shorts and faded Red Sox T-shirt. I can't believe she shares the same DNA with the world-famous Clementine.**

"She looks a lot like dad but there's a knockout in there somewhere. She just doesn't enjoy showing it often," said Courtney.

**Apparently, neither can her mother. Every time Mrs. Sloane looks at Cassidy a pleat of wrinkles appears between her eyebrows.**

Cassidy turned around to look at her mother and see if a pleat of wrinkles would appear. Her mom noticed what she was doing and shook her head.

"You know after that first year I don't see it anymore," said Clementine reassuring her daughter with a smile.

**The door opens again and Emma's face lights up. I look over and practically fall out of my chair when I see Jessica Delaney and her father. They invited Goat Girl to join this club? **

**The faint odor of manure wafts in with the Delaneys, and there is an honest-to-gosh piece of hay stuck in Jess's long blonde braid. Unbelievable!**

"I'm glad you think so Megan. I always knew the farm-girl look would become a fashion trend," Jess said.

"You were ahead of the curve," teased Megan.

**Mr. Delaney hands my mother an egg carton and she slips him some money. The Delaneys own an organic farm on the edge of town and my mother buys all our produce from them. Anything organic, my mother will buy it. The environment thing again.**

**Goat Girl gives us all a shy glance and sits down beside Emma. Jess Delaney is about the weirdest person I know. She's been weird forever. In kindergarten she brought her bug collection for show-and-tell, and she knew all their Latin names and everything. And she actually likes math and science. Maybe my mother can send her to that camp in New Hampshire instead of me.**

"I'm sure I would have gone if I could have," laughed Jess.

"My fault. I loved anything that had to do with math and science and taught Jess everything she knew," Mrs. Delaney said.

**"Welcome, Jess," Mrs. Hawthorne says warmly.**

**Jess doesn't reply, of course. She just looks down at the table. She hardly ever says a word. It's like she's mute or something. About the only person she talks to is Emma. She's gotten even quieter since her mother left for New York. Not that anyone could blame Mrs. Delaney - that farm they live on is disgusting. We stopped by to pick up some eggs once and there were actual live chickens walking around in the kitchen. Jess's mother probably got tired of having to share her house with livestock.**

Mrs. Delaney just shook her head at that as she thought about her real reason for leaving, which in hindsight was a pitiful excuse to leave her friends and family.

**"There's a chair for you, too, Michael," says Mrs. Hawthorne, gesturing to the seat beside Jess.**

**Jess's father has a kind of dazed expression on his face, like he was abducted by aliens. My mother says that everyone who has twins looks like that. Jess has two little five-year-old brothers who are even more repulsive than she is. Mr. Delaney shoves his hands (grimy) into the pockets of his jeans (also grimy). "The boys are waiting in the truck," he says, adding awkwardly, "Besides, I thought this was girls-only."**

**Mrs. Hawthorne laughs. "In your case, we'd be happy to make an exception. The main point of the club is for parents and daughters to share some quality time together."**

**Mr. Delaney nods. "I'll think about it," he says. "But I don't know if it's my cup of tea."**

**"Well, the door is always open," Mrs. Hawthorne tells him. "Feel free to join us any time."**

**Mr. Delaney leaves and Jess looks anxiously at the empty chair beside her. Mrs. Hawthorne gets up and whisks it away.**

"Always the handler of awkward situations," said Mr. Hawthorne proudly.

**"As you know, girls," she says brightly, taking her seat again, "we moms got to talking after yoga class a few weeks ago and decided that we wanted to do something special with you this year. Something more grown-up, now that you're in middle school. Mrs. Sloane came up with the idea of a mother-daughter book club, and we all agreed that it was the perfect thing."**

"Perfect for arguments," grumbled Cassidy.

Her mom argued with her. "You've made great friends, though, haven't you?"

"Yeah…" said Cassidy."I guess you're right," she added reluctantly.

**She and Mrs. Sloane and my mother all beam at us like they've just won the Nobel Prize or something. None of us beam back.**

"What is it with mothers and expecting us to be happy to do something?" muttered Emma to the other girls.

**Mrs. Sloane rummages in her big leather bag, which is the exact same pink as her fingernails and toenails and very expensive-looking. I automatically reach for my sketchbook again, but stop myself just in time. Instead, I try and memorize the bag's design and make a mental note to myself to add purses to my first fashion line.**

**Mrs. Sloane pulls out a paperback and holds it up. "The first book we're going to read together is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott."**

**Cassidy groans. I start to groan too, but stop because my mother is giving me the look. The one that says don't you dare, not if you want to live. The evil-witch-mother eye of death, my dad calls it.**

Upon reading that, Mrs. Wong gives her husband the evil-witch-mother eye of death and smacks his shoulder.

"Thanks for thinking that Megan," said Mr. Wong while he rubbed his shoulder.

"Sorry, but I didn't expect my _thoughts _to be _published_!" complained Megan.

**I pull out my cell phone instead and text Becca again: LAME LAME LAME! GOAT GIRL IS HERE. P-U. WE HAVE TO READ LITTLE WOMEN. I think about snapping a picture of Jess but add a frowny face instead and press send.**

**My mother reaches over and plucks the phone out of my hand. I start to protest, but she gives me the look again.**

**Mrs. Sloane continues, "We thought that since Louisa lived right here in town and wrote the book at Orchard House and is such a famous Concord author and everything, Little Women would be the perfect choice to kick off our new club."**

**"You've got to be joking!" Cassidy takes the book from her mother and hefts it like a dumbbell. "This sucker is huge!" She riffles through the pages and looks up in disbelief. **

**"It's over seven hundred pages long!"**

**Mrs. Hawthorne laughs. "It is a long book, Cassidy, you're right. But I think you'll find it's a good one. And don't worry, we've got all year to read it."**

**My mouth drops open. A whole year? I turn and stare at my mother. I shake my head, No way. She nods and smiles, Yes way. We communicate like this sometimes, without words.**

"Communicating without words is a mark of knowing and understanding a person really well," said Stanley as Megan and her mother smiled at that.

**"How am I supposed to have time to read this thing plus do my homework plus skate?" Cassidy demands.**

**"I didn't know you were a skater, Cassidy!" gushes my mother, flicking me a glance. **

**"Figure skating is such a lovely sport."**

"It is, I have to admit that," Cassidy said, "I still think hockey is better though."

**Yet another of my mother's major disappointments in life is that I quit figure skating. For a while there, before she decided I should become an environmental lawyer, she had plans for me to be the next Michelle Kwan.**

**"Are you taking lessons with Eva Bergson?" my mother continues. Eva Bergson is one of Concord's most famous residents. Almost as famous as Louisa May Alcott. She won a gold medal in the Olympics about a hundred years ago, and now she runs a skating school.**

A pang goes through Emma at she heard the name of her surrogate grandmother. The rest of the people in the room goes silent as they remember Eva.

**"I play hockey," Cassidy says flatly.**

**"There's no need to be rude," scolds Mrs. Sloane. She turns to my mother. "You'll have to excuse her, Lily," she says apologetically. "Cassidy played on a girls' team in California, and I'm afraid she was terribly disappointed to find that there isn't one at the middle school here in Concord."**

**"What about the Merrimac League?" asks Mrs. Hawthorne.**

**Mrs. Sloane shakes her head ruefully. "I looked into it but the commitment is way too intense for a single mother like me - all those practices, national tournaments, travel. There's no way I could swing that."**

**Cassidy shoots her a sour look.**

**"And classes with Eva?"**

**"Cassidy's not interested, and Eva's all booked up anyway," Mrs. Sloane tells her.**

**My mother whips her planner out of her purse and jots down a note to herself. "I'm co-chairing the new rec center fundraiser with Eva," she tells Mrs. Sloane. "I'll put in a good word for you, if you'd like. She's a marvelous teacher." She smiles at Cassidy, who folds her arms defiantly across her chest.**

**"I play hockey," she repeats.**

"Manners!" scolds Courtney mockingly.

**"Well," says Mrs. Hawthorne smoothly. "Let's get started, shall we? Since we obviously haven't read any of the book yet, I thought that tonight we'd talk about the club rules and learn a few fun facts about Louisa, then go out for ice cream."**

**I slouch down in my chair. This is getting worse by the minute. Ice cream? What if someone from school sees all of us together? They'll think we're friends. What if Zach Norton is there?**

"Then he'd see you with a bunch of totally awesome, cool, nice people and be like 'Whoa, Megan must be getting nicer now I should totally start crushing on her…'" laughed Cassidy.

**The door to the conference room flies open and Becca Chadwick's mother barges in. She has brown hair like Mrs. Hawthorne, but unlike Emma's mother, who wears hers in a ponytail, Mrs. Chadwick's is styled into one of those poufy bouffants that looks sort of like a football helmet. Her eyes are blue, like Becca's, but much paler. Pale as robins' eggs, but piercing, which is a weird combination.**

"Not weird but striking. Her eyes were what gave me the courage to talk to her when we were younger," said Mr. Chadwick.

**"Aha!" she says, looking at Mrs. Hawthorne accusingly. "Caught you! I thought I made myself quite clear this afternoon, Phoebe. No exclusive clubs are allowed to meet on public property."**

**Mrs. Hawthorne sighs. "Calliope, for one thing, we're not exclusive, just private. And for another, I couldn't change our meeting place on such short notice. We were just about to take a vote on a new location and then we'll be leaving, I promise you."**

**Mrs. Chadwick's sour expression softens when she spots me. "So sorry you can't join the girls and me tonight, Megan. I know Becca is disappointed." She glares at my mother. "But apparently SOME people prefer to let their daughters join EXCLUSIVE CLUBS instead of engaging in wholesome recreational activities with their dearest FRIENDS!"**

"You don't have to yell Lily," said Mr. Wong as he rubbed his ears choosing his words carefully in case she wanted to glare at him again.

Mrs. Wong just shrugged and said that it was in caps.

**She looks around the table dismissively at Emma and Jess and Cassidy, who she clearly feels don't fall into this category. I can't say I disagree.**

**My mother presses her lips together firmly and doesn't reply. My mother doesn't like Mrs. Chadwick. Actually, most people in Concord don't like Mrs. Chadwick, on account of her temper. My father calls her "the snapping turtle."**

"Well it is my favorite animal," said Calliope.

**With a final sniff of disapproval, Mrs. Chadwick waddles out.**

**My mother looks ruefully at Mrs. Hawthorne. "Maybe we should have invited - "**

**"No," Emma's mother says firmly. "We have every right to form a group of our own choosing. And Calliope has no right to try and make us feel guilty."**

**"Should we vote about where we want to meet?" asks Mrs. Sloane.**

**How about nowhere, I want to say, but don't.**

"You should've," joked Cassidy. "I want to see what their reaction would have been like."

**"We could take turns hosting the meetings at our homes," says Mrs. Hawthorne. "Or if you'd all prefer, I can reserve a room at the Arts Center."**

**"No, let's meet in our homes," says Cassidy's mother. "It's cozier that way."**

"Let's do that for these books too. After we finish one book we go to someone else's house to read the book until that one is finished and so on and so forth," said Mr. Delaney.

The rest of the room agreed that this was a good idea and Mrs. Wong started reading again.

**The mothers all nod in agreement.**

**"Girls?" asks Mrs. Hawthorne.**

**None of us say a word. Emma gives a half shrug.**

**"I'll take that as a yes," her mother says briskly. "It's settled. We'll take turns hosting."**

**Jess Delaney gets that anxious look on her face again. Mrs. Hawthorne gives her shoulder an encouraging pat. "Of course, if someone is unable to host for any reason, that's not a problem."**

**"I volunteer for next month," says Mrs. Sloane.**

**Cassidy glares at her. Mrs. Hawthorne passes out rose-patterned folders. "THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER BOOK CLUB" is written on each one in fancy calligraphy. Cassidy holds hers gingerly between her thumb and forefinger. She looks like she's been handed a dead cat.**

"That's cause it was the most girliest thing I owned at the time," said Cassidy. "And it still would be if I had any say in the matter." She added, glaring at her mother.

**"This is to keep your handouts in," explains Mrs. Hawthorne. "And here's your first one."**

**At the top is printed "RULES FOR THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER BOOK CLUB," followed by a long list. We go over it quickly. Finish each month's assigned reading. Come prepared to discuss the questions. Respect your fellow club members. Don't interrupt. Be positive and supportive of one another's ideas. Blah, blah, blah.**

**Mrs. Hawthorne passes out two more sheets of paper. "This is your assignment for October's meeting, plus a little information about the author."**

**I scan the assignment. Six chapters a month? Forget it! I stuff it inside my folder along with the club rules and look at the next sheet.**

**FUN FACTS ABOUT LOUISA**

**1. Louisa May Alcott was born in 1832.**

**2. She had three sisters, and loosely based Little Women on her own family. Bronson and Abba Alcott, her parents, became Mr. and Mrs. March. Her older sister Anna became the character Meg, Louisa herself was Jo, May was Amy, and Elizabeth ("Lizzie") was Beth.**

**3. Little Women was originally written as two books, but over the years the volumes were combined. It's been translated into many languages around the world and has also been performed as a stage play and a musical. At least six movie versions of the story have been made.**

**"Why don't we just watch one of the movies instead?" suggests Cassidy. "This dumb book is way too long."**

**"The whole point is to spend time reading together, honey," says her mother with a pained smile. "It wouldn't hurt you to do something cultured once in a while, something ladylike."**

**Cassidy gives a very unladylike grunt in reply.**

**Mrs. Hawthorne stands up. "So, are we ready to go to Kimball Farm?"**

"YES!" Cassidy. "I am!"

"Um…" Mrs. Hawthorne laughed. "Not right now…maybe later?"

And with that Cassidy slumped back down into her seat.

**Beside me, Emma perks up. "Likes to eat" would be at the top of any "Fun Facts About Emma Hawthorne" list. Not that I mind a trip to Kimball Farm. They have the best strawberry ice cream in the world. But the idea of going there with this group is enough to make anyone lose their appetite.**

**Out in the car, my mother fastens her seatbelt, humming happily to herself. "Such nice girls," she says. "This is going to be fun. Don't you think so?"**

**I look over at her and shake my head. Fun? She's got to be kidding. Going to the mall with Becca and Ashley and Jen would have been fun. But I don't say a word. Instead, I promise myself I will find a way out. There's no way I'm staying in a book club with Emma Hawthorne and Cassidy Sloane and Goat Girl. No way at all.**

Mrs. Wong finished reading the chapter and put the book in her lap. "While you girls were in the other room we decided we shouldn't have anymore of this Mr. and Mrs. business just say Uncle and Aunt because everyone here might as well be each others aunts and uncles. Okay?"

All the kids in the room nodded their heads.

"Who wants to read next?" Mrs. Wong. Clementine took the book from Lily.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yeah I know. I've probably been irritating all of you who have been waiting to death. Believe me, I know the feeling. There is no excuse except that I had a bit of a road block and wanted to develop more of a plot for this story. ****What hurts is that I'm making promises I can't keep but I do promise to update as soon as possible. Deadlines help so every chapter from now on I'm going to post a trivia question from one of the books and the first person who posts a review with the answer can pick a deadline for the next chapter and a one-shot from one of the stories posted on my profile in the style and character they want. The minimum deadline has to be a week from when I post.** **Right, so here's your question.**

**In _Dear Pen Pal_, what is the name of the complicated game that Jess's brothers pl****ay every time they go to Cassidy's?**

**Remember keep telling me what you think, what you want to see, and keep pushing me I take no offense at all. Thanks to all of you but a special thanks to:**

kgorange

LuvLife113

JessandDarcy

Lmt1

hpgirl1564

theoriginalclichedlostsoul

MiggieMoo2014

**One more thing I'm going to post stories that will hopefully tide you over until I post again. For my Harry Potter fans little0bird's **The First Day. **Read all of her stories because they are just that amazing!**


	4. Cassidy

**A/N: I hope my beta can forgive me for being an impatient pest but I couldn't wait any longer to post the next chapter of this story. Please come back to see her updates, which she isn't able to get out as quickly as she would like to due to unforseen circumstances. Hope you like the chapter!**

**Many thanks to my beta hplover321 and a ton of get well soons!**

* * *

><p>Clementine took the book from Lily. "How about we have dinner after this?" she suggested.<p>

"Let's eat after the next chapter. At the rate we'll be going it should be about 1:00 by then and I think we should hear the point of views from all of the girls before we take a break," said Mrs. Hawthorne. Everyone agreed and Clementine started reading.

**Cassidy**

"**A quick temper, sharp tongue and restless spirit were always getting her into scrapes…"**

"Too true," everyone in the room said. Cassidy just glared at everyone as she blushed.

**I fling open the front door. It bangs against the wall, announcing my arrival.**

"**Hi, honey!" my mother calls from the kitchen.**

**I shrug my backpack onto the entry hall bench and glance over at the grandfather clock opposite. It's three fifteen. If I hustle, I can grab some ice time before our dumb book club meeting. It's here at my house tonight. Right before the party.**

**My mother appears, carrying a platter of cupcakes. They're covered with orange frosting and decorated with licorice to look like little jack-o'-lanterns. "What do you think?" she asks.**

"**They look radioactive," I tell her, wrinkling my nose. It's true. Nothing in nature is that shade of orange except maybe some rare fungus.**

"You do have to admit Clementine that the orange food coloring you have just has an unnatural color," said Stanley.

Clementine gave him a glare and he felt really lucky to be holding Chloe in his arms right now.

**She shoots me a look. "You don't have to be rude about it.**

"Her thoughts are ruder than what she actually said. She was just making an observation," said Mr. Chadwick.

**I'm just trying to do something nice for you."**

"**Nice?" I snap. "Nice is not inviting my entire class to our house for a Halloween party without asking me first."**

**My mother sighs. "Honey, I'm just trying to help you make friends."**

All of the kids looked at her. "Aunt Clem, you were young once too right? So you know the worst possible thing to do to help their kid make friends is to try and help them make friends?" said Becca.

The parents all looked sheepish. "Once you're a parent you basically start treating your kids the way your parents treated you. Forgetting how you felt when you were treated like that in the process," replied Mrs. Hawthorne.

"**I don't need your help." I open the hall closet and rummage noisily through my hockey equipment. My voice is as sharp as the blades on my skates, but I don't care. The book club was bad enough, but now this?**

"You're right Cassidy this probably was a bad idea," sighed her mom.

"I beg to differ," Cassidy said as she grinned and Emma and Jess chuckled. Everyone turned to look at them. "You'll see," they all replied at the same time smiling.

"**I just thought, what with you being so disappointed about no hockey team here…" My mother's voice trails off.**

**I back out of the closet and turn to face her. "You're probably thrilled there isn't a team! You never wanted me to play anyway!"**

**A hurt expression creeps over her face. "That's not fair, Cassidy. It's not that I don't want you to play, it's just that it's dangerous and-"**

Cassidy now understood why her mother never wanted to let her play and became even more upset that she had been rude to her.

"**And what? Unladylike? Dad never cared about that."**

**My mother's eyes fill with tears at the mention of my father.**

Clementine didn't start to show tears but she became visibly upset.

**Silently, she takes her cupcakes and retreats to the kitchen. The ruckus has brought my older sister Courtney**

"Took you long enough to mention me Cass," huffed Courtney. Cassidy rolled her eyes and the sisters watched as a small smile appeared on their mother's face.

**down from her bedroom. She leans over the banister and glares at me.**

"**What's the matter with you?" she says. "Why do you always have to be so mean to Mom?"**

"**I wasn't trying to be mean!" I protest. "It's true – she doesn't want me to play hockey. She probably picked Concord on purpose when she found out they don't have a girls' team at the middle school!"**

"Cassidy that's the most ridiculous idea to pick a place to live and if your mom really, really didn't want you to play hockey she would have stopped you from playing a long time ago," said Stanley.

"**That's ridiculous, and you know it," my sister scoffs. "You know as well as I do that we moved here to be near Nana and Grampie after Dad died."**

**Courtney is a sophomore in high school and thinks she knows everything.**

"Cassidy Ann, darling, that is because I do know everything," said Courtney in the snobbiest, fakest English accent that she could produce causing everyone in the room to laugh.

**Her words make me squirm inwardly, though, because she's right."You wouldn't understand," I say bitterly.**

"Yeah, cause I didn't move with you guys and was just visiting for the day," said Courtney sarcastically.

"**Did it ever occur to you that it wasn't easy for Mom to leave California either? Maybe she's trying to make some new friends, too."**

"I had to leave everything behind and start over too Cass," said her mother quietly.

**I gesture at the hallway, which is draped with fake cobwebs and spiders and stuff. "How, by making them think we're the Addams family?"**

**Courtney shakes her head in disgust. "Grow up, Cassidy." She disappears back upstairs. I sling my skates over my shoulder and head out the door to get my bike.**

**An hour on the ice clears my head. It always does.**

"That was another reason why I was so mad that you didn't want me to do hockey. I needed it to keep control of my temper," said Cassidy.

**For once free skate is not too crowded and I fly up and down the rink, free as a bird, practicing crossovers and sprints and turns and working up a pretty good sweat in the process.**

"**Hey, you're not bad."**

**Startled, I skate to a stop and look up to see a tall boy with curly brown hair standing in front of me. It's Darcy Hawthorne, Emma's older brother. I recognize him from Little League.**

"**Thanks."**

**Darcy flicks me a smile and skates off. I watch him go. He's not bad either. **

Jess glares at Cassidy. Cassidy raises her hands in mock-surrender. "Cool it Jess, I have no interest in pretty boy over here, only his technique," she says smirking.

**Nice foot work, nice technique. Lucky, too. He's a boy, so he has a team to play on. As he sails down the ice, I feel a stab of envy.**

"Cause you wish you could be as good as me Sloane," says Darcy.

"Fat chance, Hawthorne, I could run circles around you any day," Cassidy retorts.

**Life is so unfair! Hockey was what got me through those awful moths after Dad died. And now I've lost it, too.**

Clementine and Courtney now didn't bother to hide the few tears that escaped from their eyes. Clementine motioned to Cassidy and Cassidy moved to sit in between her and Courtney. The three women held each other's hands tightly before Clementine composed herself and continued reading.

**The shine's gone off my ice time. I stump away toward the benches to unlace my skates, and a few minutes later I'm on my bike heading home. As I turn down Walden Street toward Hubbard, I pass Zach and Ethan and Third sitting on the steps of the bank.**

"**See you tonight!" Zach shouts, and the black cloud hanging over me lifts a little. Maybe the party won't be so awful. Most of my baseball team will be there, and I can hang out with them.**

**But first I have to get through book club.**

**They're all clustered in the front hall when I arrive. My mom is talking with the other moms, and Megan and Emma and Jess are staring at the decorations. Piles and piles of decorations. Our house is practically encrusted with them, Tombstones line the staircase, huge black rubber tarantulas are scattered along the banister and the hallway bench; a family of vampires (mannequins dressed in black capes – who knows where Mom dug them up)**

"I was modeling a Halloween collection for an old friend and she let me keep some of the prototypes and they let me have some of the mannequins," Clementine said.

**is sitting at the dining room table, and absolutely everything is covered in fake cobwebs. When it comes to decorating for the holidays –- any holiday –- give my mother an inch and she'll take a mile.**

"I'll say. Have you ever found the stop sign when you're decorating Clementine?" said Calliope, half in exasperation and half in amusement.

"**Hey, Cassidy," says Emma. She's in her costume already. I think she's a vegetable of some kind – an eggplant, maybe?**

"**Hey, Emma."**

"**I'm a Concord grape," she explains, noting my puzzled look. I nod. Unbelievably lame.**

"Just a bit," Emma chuckled.

"**How about you, Jess?" I ask, checking out her white lab coat and crazy white wig. "You look like your hair exploded."**

**She nods shyly. "Albert Einstein," she whispers.**

**Megan Wong snorts. "Figures. You two will definitely win for stupidest costumes."**

**Jess's smile disappears, and Emma shifts uncomfortably in her green tights. I glare at Megan, but she ignores me and puts on more lip gloss. I knew girls like her back in California. Mean as snakes, for no reason.**

Megan flinched when she heard the no reason part, mostly because at the time it was true.

"**Cassidy, why don't you put your skates away and we'll get started," says my mother. "I thought we'd have our meeting in the turret." Her voice sounds overly cheery and I felt a prickle of guilt. Obviously, her feelings are still hurt.**

"Mothers only use that fake, cheery 'Everything is fine' when everything is not fine," said Lily as all of the mothers in the room agreed.

"**The turret? Cool!" Emma exclaims.**

**Megan rolls her eyes, which are heavily made up with blue eye shadow. She's dressed as a pop singer, which means she looks pretty much the same way she does most days at school, only a little flashier.**

"We didn't want a costume that took too much effort," Megan said.

**My mother, who is dressed as a witch, complete with green face paint and a huge fake wart on her nose, leads the way upstairs. I throw my skates into the closet and follow. The turret is on the third floor of our Victorian house, off an attic that would have been my dad's study if he were still alive. Which he isn't.**

Cassidy squeezed her eyes shut. Courtney moved to switch with Stanley and watched as he put Chloe in Cassidy's lap and put his arm around her.

"**This is awesome!" Emma says as we all crowd into the circular room. She sighs. "I wish our house had a turret. You're so lucky, Cassidy."**

"**Lucky" is not the word I'd use to describe my life, but Emma's right about the turret. It is pretty awesome, even if it makes our house look like something out of a horror movie.**

"CASSIDY ANN! Our house does not look like something out of a horror movie!" shouted Clementine. Cassidy just shrugged, remembering where her thoughts had gone when she was thinking about the turret and worried about what everyone would think.

**My mom calls it her thinking room. There's a window seat that runs all the way around, and the windows above it are crisscrossed in little diamond shapes. Underneath the seats are bookcases filled with all our family photo albums, plus my mom's gardening and decorating and cooking books.**

**I would never in a million years tell my mother this, but sometimes I come up here when she's not around and look through our photo albums.**

Everyone in the room looked at Cassidy with sadness in their eyes. Cassidy didn't want to look up, assuming she would see pity in their eyes.

**She and my dad took zillions of pictures of us when we were little. Courtney looks just like my mom, blonde and perfect. I look like my dad. He had red hair too, and gray eyes like my mine. It's been over a year since the accident, and I still can't look at his pictures without wanting to cry. Dad was the one who taught me how to skate, and catch a ball, and ride a bike, and surf, and do all the things I love to do. He was the best.**

Jess, Becca, Emma, and Megan got up from their seats on the floor and went over to Cassidy with tears in all five pairs of eyes and hugged her. The five girls went back to sitting on the floor in a tight circle.

**We take our seats. Mom doesn't look at me as she passes me my book club folder, and I feel that pang of guilt again.**

"At least you felt guilt," Nick said, trying to lighten the mood in the room.

"**Before we start," says Mrs. Hawthorne, who is dressed as a scarecrow, "I have presents for everybody. They're from Jess's mom."**

**Jess looks surprised to hear this.**

"**I saw your mother on the cover of **_**TV Guide**_** yesterday at the supermarket checkout," Megan says. "That red dress was gorgeous."**

**Her mother elbows her. Megan flinches. "Ouch! What did you do that for?" she protests. "All I said was that she looked nice!"**

"Thank you Megan. That one was one of my favorites out of all the magazine covers I had to do," said Shannon.

**I don't know the whole story with Jess's mom, just a few bits I overheard when Mrs. Hawthorne dropped by a few weeks ago for tea, after yoga class.**

"Eavesdropper," said Darcy and Stewart in a stage whisper and "discreetly" pointed to Cassidy.

"Shut up," she said with a grin.

The two boys stuck their tongues out and she did the same. The rest of the room was laughing at their antics and the three mothers were doing their best to keep a straight face.

"For god's sake Darcy/Stewart/ Cassidy, you're in high school now! You should be more mature than this," yelled Phoebe/Calliope/Clementine, while attempting to keep a straight face. The three kids just shrugged and smirked.

"I'm too old for this," muttered the three mothers while the rest of the room didn't bother to stop their laughter.

**I guess Mrs. Delaney moved to New York to be an actress, which is kind of a weird thing for a mother to do.**

"Meh, I've done weirder," said Lily flicking her hand.

"We know!" seconded everyone in the room. Lily just pouted and mock – glared at all of them.

**Mrs. Hawthorne hands us each a spiral-bound notebook. On the cover is a picture of our girls in old-fashioned dresses. One is sitting and the other three are standing behind her.**

"**Oh, how lovely!" says my mother. She adores stuff like this. I hate it. Too girly.**

"**It's one of the Jessie Wilcox Smith illustrations from **_**Little Women**_**," says Mrs. Hawthorne. It's the March sisters, see? Beth is sitting down, and behind her are Jo on the right, Meg in the middle, and Amy on the left. Shannon sent a card, too." She holds it out to Jess. "Would you like to read it aloud to us, sweetie?"**

**Jess shakes her head shyly.**

"**I'll read it then, shall I?" says Mrs. Hawthorne. She opens the card. "To my favorite 'little women' and her friends: When I saw these in a shop here in Manhattan, I knew they were meant for you. I worked as a guide at Orchard House one summer during college,**

"It's where she and I first met," said Michael holding on to his wife's hand.

**and I remember that the Alcotts all kept journals. I thought perhaps you might like to as well, as part of your club. You know the old saying, 'Preserve your memories, keep them well; what you forget, you can never retell.' Have fun! Wish I could be there!"**

"**Your mom is so thoughtful," Mrs. Wong says to Jess, her antennae wagging approvingly. She's dressed as a honey bee, and "Sweeten Your Day Naturally!" is emblazoned on her black and yellow-striped tunic.**

**Mrs. Hawthorne passes the card to Jess, who fingers it quietly.**

"**Keeping journals is a splendid idea for our club," says Mrs. Hawthorne. "Did you know that the Alcott girls were required to share their journals with their family?"**

"**They had to let their **_**parents**_** read them?" Emma sounds horrified. **

"I would be too," said all the kids in the room. The adults just rolled their eyes.

**Mrs. Hawthorne nods. I swear she knows everything. It's probably because she's a librarian and gets to read all day.**

"Yup," muttered Emma, Darcy, and their dad wearily. Phoebe just glared at all of them.

"**I know it must sound awful to you, but, remember, they grew up in a different era," she continues. "Bronson and Abba didn't do this to pry – they felt it was a good form of family communication. Their girls could express their thoughts and feelings, and they could write comments in response."**

"**I would just **_**die **_**if anybody ever read my journal!" cries Emma,**

Emma, Megan, and Becca flinched. That day was coming up soon.

**clutching her new spiral-bound notebook to her grape costume. "Promise me you'll never read it, Mom."**

"**I promise," says Mrs. Hawthorne solemnly. "You know," she continues slowly, eyeing Jess, "Mr. Alcott was very shy as a young man."**

**Jess looks up. Mrs. Hawthorne smiles at her. "So shy, in fact, that the only way he could muster the courage to propose to Abba was by letting her read journal entries that he had written about his love for her."**

**I take my new journal and shove it under the cushion of the window seat. What a wimp! I will not be writing in my journal about anything, especially not love.**

Cassidy blushed as she glared at the people who were about to make a comment.

"**So, did everyone do the reading?" asks my mother.**

**Emma's hand shoots up. I give her a scornful look. Teacher's pet.**

"Just a bit," Emma chuckled.

"**Can you tell us a bit about the first few chapters?"**

"**The book starts at Christmas," Emma replies. "Mr. March is away at war – the Civil War – and the girls are all sad because they don't have any money for presents."**

**I stare out the window as she talks. The delicious aroma of pizza drifts up from the kitchen.**

"Cassidy were you paying any attention to what we were talking about?" said her mother in disbelief. Cassidy shook her head sheepishly.

**Courtney is downstairs getting set up for the party. Outside, dusk is falling fast and the littlest kids are already out trick-or-treating. A pair of tiny ghosts flit up our front path. I hear faint shrieks as they pass the jack-o'-lantern on the bottom of the porch steps. I smile. The jack-o-lantern was my idea. I bought it with my allowance downtown at Vanderhoof's Hardware. Dad would have loved it. He loved practical jokes.**

"Yeah he did," chuckled Courtney and her mother fondly. Cassidy grinned along with them.

**Once he put a six-foot –tall inflatable Godzilla in the bathroom and when Mom went in there in the middle of the night her shrieks woke us all up. She wasn't too happy about it, but he thought it was hilarious. So did I.**

The whole room was laughing by the time Clementine finished reading the paragraph. Clementine was trying to keep a fierce glare on her face. "Ha ha ha, very funny guys," she said trying to keep a smile from slipping onto her face.

**Anyway, the jack-o'-lantern is rigged with a motion detector, and whenever anyone walks by, it blinks its ember-red eyes and chuckles this evil chuckle. It sounds stupid, but it's really spooky if you aren't expecting it.**

The others didn't notice as Megan and Becca blushed and Emma, Cassidy, and Jess grinned Cheshire – cat grins.

**The ghosts are followed by a fairy princess, a miniature vampire, and a baby dressed in a dinosaur costume. The baby's father is pushing the stroller. My eyes suddenly mist over.**

Stanley's and Clementine's did as they looked down at their baby girls and remember pushing them in strollers when they were little.

**Dad was always the one to take us trick-or-treating while Mom stayed home and handed out candy. I swipe at the tears angrily.**

"Angry at life and myself I suppose for crying," muttered Cassidy.

"**Cassidy?"**

"**What?" My reply fires out like a slapshot, and Mrs. Hawthorne looks startled. Mom glares at me. "Sorry," I mumble. "I didn't hear the question."**

"Sorry Mrs. Ha – Aunt Phoebe," Cassidy said quietly.

"It's okay, Cassidy," said Phoebe with a soft smile on her face at what Cassidy called her.

"**I asked what you think of the character Jo?"**

**I shrug. "She's okay, I guess." Actually, she's the only one of the March sisters I can stand at all.**

"I wonder why," said Darcy sarcastically.

**The others are way too prissy.**

"Cassidy, I knew that already. Hence the sarcastic tone," Darcy said.

"Hawthorne, you know you are talking to a book right?" asked Cassidy, smirking. Darcy just glared at her and did his best not to blush as he asked Clementine to keep reading.

"**She's quite a tomboy, isn't she? Does she remind you of anyone?"**

"Nope, no one at all," everyone in the room said at the same time.

**My mother looks over at me and her face softens and her lips quirk up in a smile, the first one I've seen all day. The famous "Clementine" smile that launched a thousand magazine covers. The smile that will be paying for our college educations, as she often reminds Courtney and me.**

"You always have to add that in there, don't you Mom," groaned Courtney and Cassidy. Clementine just shrugged. "Yup," Clementine said with a pop on the 'p'.

"**She definitely reminds me of Cassidy, if that's what you're hinting at, Phoebe," says Mrs. Wong.**

**I shrug again, but secretly I'm pleased.**

"It's nice to be like one of the characters I admire," Cassidy said.

**We talk about the book some more, and come up with words that describe each of the other March sisters. We decide that Meg is "practical," "domestic," and "romantic"; Beth is "shy," "sweet," and "gentle"; and Amy is " artistic," "selfish," and "annoying." Then Mrs. Hawthorne hands out next month's assignment and we're done.**

**As the others head back downstairs to the party, I duck into my bedroom on the second floor and quickly pull on my old hockey jersey. "Laguna Lightning" is printed on the front, and m number – 77 – is on the back. We were the top-ranked under-twelve PeeWee girls' hockey team in Southern California last year, with a shot at this year's state championship.**

"Nice, Sloane," shouted Darcy giving Cassidy a high five.

**Here in Concord, I have a shot at nothing.**

"Well, if you call having a shot at the championship here in Concord nothing, then I'll have to take back my high five," he managed to say with a straight face.

**I pull a goalie mask I found at a thrift store over my scowling face, stuff my dead giveaway hair up in a wool hat, and head downstairs.**

**The house is already starting to fill up. I wander out to the kitchen, where a group of parents are standing around talking and laughing with my mom. I listen for a while, then I drift into the family room, where kids from school are milling around drinking punch and soda and eating veggies and dip. My sister, who is dressed in her cheerleader's uniform,**

"Really Court! Couldn't you be just a little more original with your costume?" Cassidy said.

"Says the one who's costume was her hockey uniform," she retorted.

**appears bearing platters of pizza, and everybody crowds around.**

**So far, just as I'd hoped, nobody recognizes me. I move through the crowd like a ghost. The Fab Four are huddled by the punch bowl (a big plastic cauldron – where does my mother find this stuff?).**

Cassidy gave her mother an 'Explain that' look.

"The Halloween collection designer had a party afterwards and I had eaten some bad shrimp. Someone grabbed it so I could use it on my way to the hospital just in case any other food decided to make reappearance," said Clementine. Looks of disgust appeared on the faces of everyone who had been at the party.

"Oh please guys, I sanitized it before I put it out for the party," Clementine scoffed.

**They're all dressed as pop stars, just like Megan. They're supposed to be some group, I guess. I edge closer to hear what they're talking about.**

Becca and Megan turned pale as they heard that. They had no idea that Cassidy heard any of their conversation.

"**I'd give anything to have hair like that," says Megan, staring enviously at my sister's long blonde hair.**

"Thanks Megan, but your hair is really pretty too," said Courtney. Megan quietly thanked her knowing that Courtney might not be so nice to her a few sentences from now.

"**But your hair is perfect!" Ashley protests. Megan makes a face, but I can tell she's pleased at the compliment. The Fab Four are always sucking up to one another. It's revolting.**

"It was a little exhausting to suck up to everyone all the time," said Megan as Becca nodded her head.

"**How did Cassidy ever get into this family?" says Jen. "She doesn't look a thing like her mother or her sister."**

"**Maybe she's adopted," Megan suggests.**

"**Who'd adopt a creep like her?" asks Ashley.**

"**A witch?" Becca replies slyly. The four of them look over at my mother and laugh. I can feel my face growing hot under the hockey mask.**

The whole room was quiet. Becca and Megan were looking at their laps to ashamed and guilty to meet the eyes of anyone. Everyone in the room was looking at the girls in disappointment that they would say something like this. However, they were waiting until the end of the conversation to pass judgment.

"**Check out Emma Hawthorne," says Megan, nodding toward the sofa across the room. "What a baby. Her costume looks like something a kindergartner would wear."**

"**That's not a very nice thing to say about your little book club pal," Becca says with a smirk.**

"No, it wasn't," Becca said sadly.

**Megan flips her hair back angrily. "I told you, that stupid club wasn't my idea."**

"**My mom told my dad that Jess's parents are probably going to get a divorce," says Becca, her voice dropping to a whisper. Her friends lean closer. "My mom says her mom's never coming back from New York."**

Shannon was glaring down at her lap. Not angry at Becca and Calliope, but at herself. She was ashamed that she had stayed away so long for these rumors to spread.

**Megan looks over toward the couch, where Jess and Emma are sitting by themselves eating pizza. Emma has a big smear of tomato sauce on her chin. "Can you blame her?" she says. "Have you ever had to sit next to Goat Girl? P-U! Who'd want to come back to a kid like that. Get it? Kid? **_**Goat**_** Girl?"**

"I like it," said Emma, Cassidy, and Jess said at the same time. Becca and Megan looked up and saw that the other three girls of the book club were smiling at them. They tentatively smiled back. At least three people in the room weren't mad at them.

**There's a pause as the rest of the Fab Four process the pun. Finally, they burst into exaggerated laughter, like Megan said something incredibly witty.**

"I could do better," said Darcy.

**I decide I can't take any more of this,**

"Neither can we," said Clementine. She looked up at the two girls in question.

"We are really sorry for everything we said. We were just trying to be popular and be on top of the school," Megan started.

"We know that couldn't possibly make – up for what we had said, but we really hope you can forgive us," said Becca.

Just as Lily and Calliope were about to say something in reply, Jess said her bit.

"Aunt Lily. Aunt Calliope. I know you really want to punish these two but this happened five years ago. It would be a bit pointless to punish them now wouldn't it?" said Jess. "And I am speaking for myself when I say this, but I'm not offended by this."

"Same here. This already happened and it can't be changed. Believe us when we say that this conversation has no effect on us and that they've been punished enough," said Emma.

"Becca. Megan. Neither your Aunt Clementine nor I are mad at you for anything that you said. As the girls said it happened five years ago and there's no point in crying over spilled milk," said Shannon looking at Clementine for confirmation. Clementine nodded.

"I'm not upset about what you said girls and from what I've heard from Cassidy I understand that you've been punished enough," Clementine said, smiling softly at the girls. Becca and Megan went up to hug the two mothers and looked up at their own. Calliope and Lily looked at each other and were about to say something when Cassidy got up from her seat and went to each one and said something in a quiet voice all the while smiling and then went back to her seat.

"We're disappointed in what you said girls," said Calliope while Lily nodded, "but it's been hinted that you were humiliated enough and that after five years you've more than made up for it."

"I hope you've learned your lesson about gossiping girls. I'd really like to not go through this again with the both of you," she said as the girls went to hug their mothers. Calliope motioned for Clementine to keep reading.

**and I walk over to my teammates. "Hey, guys."**

**They stare at me for a minute.**

"**Cassidy?" says Zach finally. He's wearing a box that's been spray-painted silver. He's supposed to be a robot.**

"Key words: supposed to be," Cassidy said becoming more joyful by the second.

**I lift my goalie mask up a couple of inches, enough for him to see my face. "Yup, it's me. Cool costume. Are you guys up for tricks instead of treats tonight?"**

**Ethan, who is dressed as Count Dracula, lifts a dark eyebrow. "What kind of tricks?"**

"**Scaring the socks off those four," I reply with a nod toward the punch bowl.**

"What are you going to do?" said Darcy.

"You'll see," replied Cassidy.

"**So what's your plan?" asks Third, his tall clown's hat bobbing as he glances skeptically at the Fab Four.**

"**I need you to get them to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. I'll take care of the rest."**

"**Sleepy Hollow, huh? We're going to need some bait," says Zach.**

"**That would be you," I tell him.**

**He turns beet red.**

"Was embarrassing Norton a side goal Cassidy?" asked Stewart.

"Maybe," Cassidy said.

"No, I'm sure it was completely unintentional," said Darcy.

"Really, Hawthorne. Then I bet you 2 bucks that Cassidy will embarrass him again," replied Stewart.

"You're on Chadwick," Darcy said.

"**C'mon, Zach, you know Megan likes you! All you have to do is tell her you want to go with her for a walk. It'll be worth it, I promise."**

"Was it?" asked Stanley.

"You'll see," Cassidy said.

"**I guess," he says reluctantly.**

"**It's not like you have to, you know, kiss her or anything," I reassure him, and Ethan and Third instantly start making smoochy noises.**

"I win," said Stewart smugly, taking the two dollars from Darcy.

"You just wait, Chadwick, I'll get you back eventually," Darcy grumbled.

"You just keep on thinking that Hawthorne," Stewart replied.

"**Just get her there, and then leave the rest to me."**

"**Sounds like fun," says Third.**

"**For you, maybe," grumbles Zach.**

"**Meet me by Emerson's grave," I tell them. "You know, that huge white rock on Author's Ridge. And whatever you do, don't tell them I'm there."**

"How come you know so much about Sleepy Hollow?" asked Becca's dad.

"It will explain," replied Cassidy.

Clementine knew why her daughter knew so much about Sleepy Hollow and was about to continue reading when she saw the next sentence and let out a little chuckle. Everyone's eyes turned towards her. She just shook her head and continued reading as an explanation.

**Ethan looks at me curiously. "How come you know so much about Sleepy Hollow?**

"Oh," said Mr. Chadwick in understanding.

**I thought you just moved here."**

"**I dunno," I mumble, suddenly embarrassed. "I've ridden my bike there a couple of times, that's all." Back in California I visited Dad's grave nearly every day, and the habit just stuck, I guess.**

"I still go at least once a week," said Cassidy.

**Cemeteries aren't nearly as creepy as people think.**

"Wait for it," said Cassidy, holding up her hand to the people who were about to protest.

**At least not in the daytime.**

Everyone who was about to protest eventually agreed with that.

**Riding around a graveyard is kind of like being at the rink. It's quiet, and the paths are as smooth as ice. I can hear myself think there, the same way I can when I'm skating. Maybe that's weird. I don't know.**

"I love going there. It's peaceful," said Cassidy blushing at her thoughts on the subject.

"Cass, would you mind if we went together?" Courtney asked in a quiet voice. Cassidy nodded and moved closer to her sister.

**Across the room, Emma is staring at Zach like he's the last cupcake on the platter.**

Emma blushed as she muttered quietly but loud enough for everyone to hear her, "Stupid Sloane…stupid powers of observation…"

Everyone laughed while Stewart grumbled under his breath.

**I shake my head and slip into the kitchen to find a flashlight and some duct tape. I just don't get it. What is so special about Zach Norton? He's a nice guy and everything, but he's just, well Zach.**

"He better be just Zach," said Becca so quietly that only Megan could hear her.

**The parents have all moved into the living room by now, and as Zach and Ethan and Third and the Fab Four head toward the front door, Mrs. Chadwick, who is dressed as a nurse, looks up. "Are you kids all going trick-or-treating?"**

"**Yes, Mom," Becca replies.**

_**Emphasis on trick,**_** I think, grinning to myself under the goalie mask.**

The Cassidy in the room was grinning in the same way.

**Mrs. Chadwick looks triumphantly over at Mrs. Sloane and Mrs. Hawthorne. "Well, you and your **_**friends **_**have fun, okay?**

"Wow Calliope, way to emphasize it," said Phoebe dryly. Calliope blushed.

**And be back here by nine. It's a school night."**

**The party starts to break up. Emma and Jess start to leave too, and it suddenly occurs to me that I could use some help. "Hey!" I call after them.**

"So let me get this straight. You three," said Darcy, pointing at Emma, Cassidy, and Jess, "became friends because of a prank."

"That's the long and short of it, I suppose," said Jess. Darcy just beamed at her.

"Way to go Em! I never knew you had it in you!" he said giving her a high – five. "And I'm so proud of you!" he said quietly to Jess as he gave her a hug.

**They turn and stare at me. "Cassidy? Is that you?" says Emma.**

**I push the mask up on top of my head so they can see my face. "Are you two up for some fun?"**

"**They exchange a wary glance. "What kind of fun?" asks Emma.**

**I grab their arms and steer them down the hall in reply. My mother notices the three of us and her green witch face lights up. Now it's her turn to smile triumphantly at Mrs. Chadwick. "Have a great time, girls!" she calls.**

"Mothers and competing," mumbled all the kids and dads. The mothers just glared at them.

**Once past the parent-infested living room, I whisk the black cape off the vampire sitting at the head of our dining room table – **_**Dad's chair**_**, I can't help thinking**

Cassidy looked like she was about to get upset at that but decided against it.

– **then fish my hockey stick out of the front hall closet. "Here, you carry these," I say, thrusting them at Emma and Jess. They take the cape and stick reluctantly.**

"**What they are for?" Emma asks.**

"**Ever head of the Headless Horseman?"**

**She and Jess exchange another glance. "Sure," Emma replies. "But what does a hockey stick have to do with him?"**

"**You'll see." I close the front door behind us, look back over my shoulder to make sure nobody's watching from the window, then grab the battery-operated jack-o'-lantern from the bottom of our front steps. Emma and Jess trail reluctantly behind me as I head down Hubbard Street toward town.**

**Ahead under the streetlights, I spot my teammates with the Fab Four. They turn left at the post office, heading for Main Street.**

"**We'll take the shortcut through the parking lot," I tell Emma and Jess prodding them forward across Walden. "It's quicker."**

"**A shortcut to where?" asks Emma, who is already huffing and puffing. She really needs to take up a sport.**

"Yeah, dog – walking," said Emma.

"Doesn't count," said Cassidy shaking her head. "You still need to take up a sport."

"**You'll see," I say again.**

"**You keep saying that, but we don't see," she complains.**

**I sigh, "Sleepy Hollow."**

**Jess stops in her tracks. Emma, who is taking up the rear, nearly runs into her. **_**"The graveyard?"**_** squeaks Jess. "On Halloween?"**

"**You've got to be joking!" adds Emma.**

"**Don't be such babies," I snap. "Don't you want to give the Fab Four a taste of their own medicine?"**

**Jess looks nervous at this news. So does Emma. "We're not going to get in trouble, are we?" she asks.**

"You're not," muttered Cassidy.

**I put my hands on my hips and glare at them scornfully. "You two are completely hopeless!" I tell them. "How do you ever manage to have any fun? Stop being such goody-goodies. We're not going to get in trouble. We're just going to spice up their Halloween a little."**

"**Well, okay, I guess," says Emma finally. Jess doesn't say anything, but she doesn't turn back, either.**

"That's the first step to being brave: Having the courage to not turn back," said Nick.

"**Come on then, we have to hurry." I can hear squeals and giggles from the Fab Four. They're only a few blocks behind us. I pick up the pace a little as we cross Monument Square, and soon Emma is huffing and puffing again.**

Emma glared at Cassidy who pretended not to notice.

**I grab her by the elbow and pull her along. My flashlight's lone beam is nearly lost in the total darkness of the graveyard, but the three of us manage to stumble our way up Author's Ridge. When we reach Ralph Waldo Emerson's grave, I shove Emma and Jess behind it. We all flop down in the grass and lean back against the cold granite, panting.**

"**Give me the hockey stick," I say, and Emma hands it over. I tape the vampire cloak around the handle.**

"**Jack-o'-lantern," I order, holding out my hand like a surgeon asking for a scalpel on one of those TV shows. Jess hands it over and I loop the handle of the jack-o'-lantern over the blade of the stick and tape it down securely, too.**

"**Check it out!" I crow, hoisting my hockey stick in the air and waving it slowly back and forth. The cape billows out perfectly, and the movement activates the lantern's blinking red eyes and evil chuckle.**

"**You really think that's going to scare them?" Emma sounds dubious.**

"**It'll scare them all right, just you wait and see," I reply. "It's the last thing they'll be expecting.**

"It was," said Megan as the rest of the room pieced together what Cassidy was trying to do. Stanley, who had been a prankster when he was younger, grinned at Cassidy, having figured out what she was planning to do.

**Now, can you two hold this up just like I did and wave it around when I give you the signal?"**

**They both nod.**

"**Good." We squat down quietly behind the tombstone and wait. It doesn't take long.**

"**Ooo, it's creepy in here, Zach," I hear Megan say. "Where are we going?"**

"**You're in the book club with Cassidy, right?" Zach replies. "I just thought you might like to see Louisa May Alcott's grave."**

**Third hoots like an owl, and the girls all shriek. The boys laugh. They come to a halt on the other side of the stone.**

"**That's not Louisa's grave, that's Emerson's," says Becca.**

"**It's showtime," I whisper to Emma and Jess, and cupping my hands around my mouth, I call out "Megan!" in the deepest, weirdest, spookiest voice I can muster.**

The people in the room who had already figured it out were desperately trying to hold back their laughter.

**She gives a little squeal. "Who's there?" I can't see her, but I'd bet my championship hockey jersey that she's clutching Zach Norton's arm.**

Megan blushed as everyone turned towards her.

"**The Headless Horseman!" I moan.**

"**There is no such thing," Megan replies, but she doesn't sound so sure.**

"**That's what you think!" I moan again. "The Headless Horseman is for real, Megan, and he's coming for YOU!"**

**I give Emma and Jess the thumbs up. They hoist the hockey stick into the air, and slowly the black-cloaked figure rises above Ralph Waldo's grave. I motion to them again and they wave it back and forth. The movement triggers the motion detector, and the jack-o'-lantern's eyes blink open and begin to glow red. "Mwa-ha-ha-ha," it chuckles, the evil laugh gradually rising in pitch. "Mwa-ha-ha-ha-HA!"**

**I leapt out from behind the tombstone, holding the flashlight under my chin and shining it on the white goalie mask that covers my face.**

By this time everyone in the room had exploded in laughter, even Becca and Megan, who looking back on it thought it was a really funny prank.

**The Fab Four's screams split the air, and this time there's real fear in their voices. I lunge at Megan and she drops Zach's arm and takes off running. Becca and Ashley and Jen are right behind her, hanging onto one another for dear life as they skid down the steep path. I chase them all the way to the cemetery entrance, then double back.**

**Zach and Ethan and Third are collapsed on the ground, howling.**

"**Cassidy, you rule!" gasps Third. "That was awesome!"**

**I nod smugly. For the first time since we moved to Concord, I feel really, truly happy. Dad would have loved this.**

"I know I did!" Stanley managed to say because he couldn't stop laughing, as he gave Cassidy a high – five. As did Darcy, Stewart, and all the dads in the room.

**I untape the jack-o'-lantern from my hockey stick. As I do so, it blinks again and chuckles.**

**The boys stagger to their feet. I shine my flashlight around, looking for Emma and Jess. The beam bounces off Emma's glasses and highlights Jess's wild white wig.**

"**Hey!" crows Ethan. "I didn't know that Hawthorne the Heifer and Goat Girl were here!"**

Darcy and Stewart immediately growled at that. Becca, Megan, and Cassidy glared at the book for that along with the parents.

"**Shut up, MacDonald," says Zach. He reaches over and slaps Emma and Jess both a high five.**

"Guess I can't be completely mad at him," Stewart said reluctantly.

**Even though it's pitch-black, I can tell that Emma is blushing.**

Emma glared at Cassidy while Cassidy put on her best 'Who me?' face.

**I smile. "Enough with the tricks," I say. "Let's go get some treats."**

**And as we head back to town, I can't resist doing a little victory dance. Final score: Cassidy – 1; Fab Four – 0.**

"Did you score us the entire time we were enemies?" asked Becca.

Cassidy nodded.

"Leave to you to relate everything to hockey," muttered Becca. The rest of the room waited for Clementine to continue. She looked up.

"That was the end of the chapter," Clementine said handing the book over to Shannon.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Right so there wasn't anybody who answered the trivia question last time so for this chapter the question is the same as last chapter. Leave a review with your answer to the question and you get to decide when I get to post the next chapter or if you don't like the idea then I'll get rid of it and all of you will have to deal with my erratic posting. Another question: Does anyone want me to keep posting recommendations for other stories? If so, leave a review telling me what you think about little0bird's please, but if not tell me that in a review also.**

**Anyway here's this chapter's recommendation for everyone who has finished all of little0bird's stories here's a surprisingly decent Twilight story where Bella got a little more backbone when Edward came back:**

Someone Wake Me Up by MadderThanTheCheshire

**Hope you like it and let me know what you think!**


	5. Jess

Mrs. Delaney opened the book and began to read.

**Jess**

Jess groaned as the Cassidy, Emma and Megan grinned. Now it was her turn to be embarrassed by everyone looking into her thoughts.

"**November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year…"**

"It really was during our first year. There were so many arguments during that month," Jess said as her mind wandered to the incident at the rink and hoping that this event wouldn't happen in her chapter.

"**Why not, Jess? You'd be perfect for the part!"**

**The skating rink is cold, and I wrap my fleece jacket tighter around me. "Quit bugging me, Emma. The answer is no."**

"**I'll help you learn your lines," she coaxes, thrusting the script under my nose.**

**I shake my head. Emma sighs. "C'mon, Jess, you've got to at least think about it. You've got such a great voice!"**

**I stare out at the ice. Doesn't Emma get it? My mother ran away from home to be an **_**actress**_**. The last thing I want to do is try out for the middle school musical.**

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't want to try out Jess," Shannon said quietly.

Jess nodded but was more worried about her other thoughts in this chapter about her mother leaving and the event that was about to take place.

"**They should be starting soon," I say, trying to distract her. Emma is like a dog with a bone when she gets an idea in her head.**

**Emma turns to look at the cluster of skaters at the far end of the rink. Today is tryouts for the Concord Comets, the middle school boys' hockey team, and there are about a zillion hopefuls warming up, including Emma's brother Darcy, Darcy's best friend Kyle Anderson, and Third.**

"Correction J," said Darcy, "everyone else is a hopeful. I'm a guaranteed a spot already."

"The only thing you're guaranteed Darcy is a spot in the biggest egotistical maniac completion," retorted Jess with an angelic smile on her face. Darcy pretended to be incredibly hurt. Jess' heart beat faster at the expression and knew that he was doing all this because he knew what was going to happen on this day. Jess knew she couldn't pick a beter guy than Darcy.

"**Well, if it isn't the little women."**

**We turn around to see Becca and Ashley and Jen sliding into the seats behind us. Becca eyes Emma's winter jacket. "Another Nicole Patterson original?"**

**Emma reddens.**

**I scowl at Becca and her wannabees. I hate it when they pick on Emma. She can't help it if her family's on a tight budget.**

"No she can't. Sometimes families go through hard times," said Becca's dad, thinking about how his company boss had been talking about lay-offs.

"Yes Dad, but how do you know about hard times," asked Becca in curiosity.

The question shook him out of his reverie. "We were on a tight budget when I was a kid," he replied smoothly. Becca nodded, even more ashamed at what she had said, and turned back to the book.

**The three of them just laugh. Emma and I turn our attention back to the rink and try and ignore them.**

**Out on the ice, the coach blows his whistle and divides the boys into four groups.**

"**He's going to put them through some drills," Emma explains. I've been to a few games, but I don't know anything about hockey. Emma's been watching her brother skate since she was still drinking out of a sippy cup.**

The whole room turned their eyes on Emma, trying to imagine her as a baby drinking out of a sippy cup. Emma's face turned tomato red and saw her boyfriend's huge grin. The blush on her face became more pronounced when she realized that her mother had shown Stewart those pictures. Emma hid her face in her hands and groaned as Stewart pulled her in close.

**The coach blows his whistle again. The first group of skaters takes off down the ice.**

"**Full speed!" the coach shouts. "Keep your heads up and stop at the blue line!"**

**After all the skaters reach the line, the coach blows his whistle again and they sprint toward the next one.**

"**Bend your knees!" hollers the coach, and so it continues on down the ice, group after group.**

**I search the crowd for a skater in a blue-and-white jersey.**

"**There," whispers Emma, nudging me with her elbow. "With Third, in this next group."**

**Behind us, Becca and Ashley and Jen are cheering for Becca's older brother, Stewart. We keep our eyes on the blue-and-white jersey, though, which streaks down the ice at the head of the pack, making each blue-line stop crisply and cleanly.**

Cassidy's mouth turned up into a grin.

**Next, the coach sets up orange cones down the middle of the rink.**

"**Glide turns," says Emma, and we watch as one by one the skaters swoop down the rink, carving their way in and out of the cones.**

"**Two hands on the stick!" the coach yells, startling Stewart Chadwick, who stumbles and trips over a cone and drops his stick completely.**

"**How's your brother doing?" a voice behind us booms.**

"**It's Becca's mother. She's carrying a tray from the concession stand loaded with sodas and a jumbo popcorn. Megan Wong is with her.**

"**Fabulous, Mom," Becca replies.**

"Really Becca!" says Stewart incredulously.

"I was being sarcastic," Becca shrugged.

"**Actually he's terrible," Emma whispers to me, and we both giggle.**

Stewart glares at Emma and sees her hold up her hands in surrender. "I wasn't your girlfriend then, therefore you cannot get mad at me for saying that," Emma said with a smile. Stewart huffed dramatically and motioned for Shannon to continue.

**Mrs. Chadwick maneuvers her massive behind into a seat and glares at us. "You two troublemakers again. I've got my eye on you."**

**Ever since Halloween, Mrs. Chadwick has been on the warpath. The Fab Four were practically in hysterics by the time they got back to the Sloanes' house from Sleepy Hollow, and, unfortunately, Cassidy's white hockey mask was a dead giveaway and she got caught. Mrs. Sloane grounded her for a month for pulling the prank. Cassidy didn't rat Emma and me out, and we certainly didn't offer any information, but still, Mrs. Chadwick is suspicious.**

"And I was right," Calliope said with a smug smile on her face.

**After glide turns the skaters are paired up, two playing offense and two playing defense. At the whistle the offensive players race for the net trying to get past the defense and score. Darcy and Kyle easily dodge Stewart Chadwick and some other player I don't recognize, whipping the puck back and forth between them until Darcy takes a shot and scores.**

"**Walk in the park," says Emma. She stands up and shouts, "Way to go, Darcy!"**

"Thank you Em. What no cheers from the girl who's crushing on me?" said Darcy, as he poked Jess in her side.

Jess rolled her eyes. "Way to go, Darcy," she said with as little enthusiasm as possible. Darcy pouted, while Jess chuckled.

"**You're blocking my view!" snaps Mrs. Chadwick.**

**Looking flustered, Emma sits down. But it's not Becca's mother who's got her rattled. A few rows ahead of us, Zach Norton and Ethan MacDonald slide into a pair of seats to watch.**

**The whistle blows again and the blue-and-white jersey streaks down the ice, skips nimbly past the line of defense, zips toward the goal, and scores.**

**The coach makes a mark on his checkboard. "You! Number 77! Over there!" he yells, pointing to the skaters clustered to the left of the goal. I spot Darcy, Kyle, and Third amongst them. Stewart Chadwick is grouped with the players on the right.**

**Emma leans in close and whispers in my ear, "She just made the first cut."**

**The skater in the blue-and-white jersey is Cassidy Sloane. Not that anyone could tell just by looking. With their helmets and mouth guards and everything, everyone looks alike.**

"It was too easy," whispered Cassidy to Jess and Emma.

"**Do you think Zach will guess?" Emma asks.**

**I give her a sidelong glance. Emma's voice goes all soft and mushy when she says Zach's name, and her face gets red whenever he's around. Just like it is now. Emma thinks she's got everybody fooled, but I know she likes Zach Norton.**

Emma huffed and glared at Jess.

**I've never told anyone who I like. Not even my mom, and I tell her everything.**

Shannon was saddened by the thought that her daughter didn't want to tell her something as big as the person she liked.

**Or I used to, before she ran away from home.**

Then again, Shannon knew that if her mother had done the same thing she probably wouldn't be willing to share secrets with her either.

**That's what we call it, my dad and me. He says she'll be back, that she's trying to figure life out, but I'm not so sure. I try not to think about the **_**D**_** word, but I can't help it. That's **_**D**_** as in **_**Divorce**_**, of course.**

Michael opened his arms and Jess ran into them and sat there in the arms of her parents. Her dad looked her straight in the eye. "Honey, we promise that no matter what happens, we will get through it and your mother and I won't get a divorce," he said. Jess nodded with tears threatening to spill.

**I watch Cassidy swoop down the ice again as the coach puts the players through more drills, and I remind myself that things could be worse. It could be **_**D**_** as in **_**Death**_** instead.**

Cassidy's nod was indiscernible behind her head of unruly hair.

**Cassidy never mentions her dad, but Emma and I overheard Emma's parents talking about him last spring when the Sloanes first moved to town. "A tragic car accident," they called it.**

Emma's parents were about to apologize when Clementine held up a hand, stopping them from speak. In her eyes she said _It's ok_ and then asked Shannon to continue reading.

"**Emma, your brother was team captain last year, right?" Mrs. Chadwick demands suddenly.**

**Emma jumps, then nods in response.**

"**Why isn't my son standing with him and those other boys?"**

**I lean in close to Emma. "Maybe because he stinks at hockey," I whisper.**

Stewart turned a fake glare on to Jess.

"Was I wrong?" Jess said with an innocent smile on her face.

Stewart crossed his arms and huffed dramatically.

**Emma kicks me, trying not to laugh. "Um, I'm not sure," she replies.**

**Becca's mother looks at us, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "I'm going to talk to the coach," she informs the Fab Four. "Don't eat all the popcorn." And with that she lumbers off, her face a thunder-cloud.**

"**Do you really think this is going to work?" I whisper to Emma.**

"**I don't see why not," Emma whispers back. "Darcy's right – Cassidy's good. Really good. She'll definitely make the team, but I don't know whether she'll get to stay once Coach Danner finds out. He's kind of old – fashioned."**

"No kidding," Cassidy and Darcy grumbled at the same time.

**One glance at his crew cut had already told me that. "Maybe he won't find out," I say hopefully.**

"That was probably too much to hope for," Cassidy chuckled.

"**Whisper, whisper, whisper," mocks Megan. "You two are full of secrets today, aren't you?"**

"Nope, just one," said Cassidy.

**We're whispering because nobody knows Cassidy is trying out except me, Emma, and Darcy. Technically, Cassidy is still grounded, but we felt we owed it to her when she asked us to help. We figured it was the least we could do, since she covered for us on Halloween.**

"I never got to tell you guys. But thanks for doing this for me. It really meant a lot," said Cassidy quietly and reluctantly to Emma and Jess. Jess and Emma smiled at her and mouthed _You're welcome._

"**All you have to do is invite me over after school before the next book club meeting," Cassidy told us. "I'll tell my mother that you're going to help tutor me in science" – Cassidy got a D on the last test –**

"CASSIDY ANN!" Clementine starts shouting, but before she can get any farther Cassidy starts speaking.

"Mom, first of all you're talking to a book," said Cassidy, "and second, I'm pretty sure you gave me this lecture a while ago when I actually got the D."

Cassidy's mother tried to maintain her dignity by not blushing at her daughter's comments. It didn't work.

"**and that we're going to bake cookies for the book club meeting. I'm sure she'll let me come."**

**It sounded simple enough, and we said okay because it wasn't really a lie.**

The mothers all turned their eyes on Jess with raised eyebrows.

"It'll explain but I stand by my statement. It technically wasn't a lie," said Jess.

**Cassidy really did come home on the bus with us this afternoon to Emma's house. And I really did help her with her science homework. She only stayed for a little while, though, before she got her bike and the hockey stuff she'd had Emma come by and get the day before, and took off for the rink. At the last minute, we had to let Darcy in on the secret, too, because Cassidy panicked when she realized she'd forgotten her helmet.**

"**I can't go home to get it!" she'd wailed. "My mother is there!"**

"**Can't go home to get what?" Darcy had said, walking in on the commotion. "Never mind, I think I know," he'd added, as soon as he spotted Cassidy's hockey uniform.**

"You weren't working on being discreet Sloane," Darcy said.

**We ended up telling him, and he was really cool about the whole thing, which he always is. Emma's lucky to have such a nice brother.**

"He's now yours," Darcy whispered to Jess. She smiled up at him happily before turning her attention back to the book.

**Darcy promised not to tell, and he said Cassidy was one of the best skaters he'd ever seen and he wouldn't mind having her on the team even if she was a girl. He even found an old helmet for her to wear, and he gave some advice, to boot.**

"**You've got to shoe Coach Danner what you've got right out of the starting gate," he told her. "Don't hold anything back. He doesn't give second chances."**

**From the looks of it, Cassidy took Darcy's advice, because now she's standing with all the skaters who made the first cut. She glances over at us and Emma and I give her a thumbs-up. She waves her stick in response.**

"A simple thumbs – up would have sufficed Cass," Emma said jokingly.

"**I know a secret too," says Becca Chadwick.**

As soon as Mrs. Delaney finished reading that sentence, the tension in the room came to the forefront of everyone's mind. Even to those who didn't know what was going on.

**We turn around. All the color drains out of Emma's face. Becca is holding her journal, the new one she got for book club. She must have taken it out of Emma's backpack while we were watching Cassidy.**

"**Oh, Za-ach!" Becca calls. "I've got something you need to hear!"**

"**Give me that!" shrieks Emma, leaping up from her seat and snatching at the journal. Becca waves it over her head, just out of reach.**

Becca paled at the thought of hearing about that day again and what the others would think of her. On seeing her face, Shannon decided to not wait for anyone to comment and to read this section as fast as possible.

"**Defense!" orders Becca, and Megan and Ashley and Jen obediently close ranks between her and Emma.**

Stewart, Darcy, and Cassidy clenched their fists and were trying their best to not say anything. The faces of the adults in the room all showed looks of disappointment.

**Zach and Ethan come up to see what all the commotion is about.**

"**Becca, don't," Emma pleads. Her mouth is trembling and there are tears in her eyes. "Give it back!"**

**Becca waves it again, taunting. "Who's going to make me? Goat Girl?"**

"I should have," Jess said quietly under her breath and cursing herself for not having the courage to do so in her head.

"**What's going on?" says Zach.**

"**Emma wrote a poem for you," Becca informs him snarkily.**

**Stricken, Emma turns and stares beseechingly at Megan. "Please, Megan, make her stop," she begs.**

**A flash of sympathy flickers across Megan's face. "Maybe this isn't such a hot idea, Becca," she says.**

"**Oh, that's right," says Becca coldly. "I forgot. You two are buddies again now that you're in that precious book club."**

**Megan and Becca lock eyes. After a moment, Megan looks away.**

Megan looks stricken at the fact that she couldn't say more to defend her first friend.

**Becca opens the journal with a triumphant flourish. "'Zach Attack,' by Emma Hawthorne," she announces, and Ashley and Jen start to snicker. So does Ethan. Megan looks uncomfortable, but she doesn't say a word. Zach looks like he doesn't know what to think. Emma looks like she's going to faint. Becca starts to read.**

"**Hair like summer sunshine,**

**Eyes the color of the wind,**

**A smile that makes my heart stop,**

**Whenever he comes in."**

Emma, who didn't seem to be as affected as the others from hearing about the event, thought about how it wasn't her best poem and how her feelings for Zach were nothing compared to what she felt for Stewart.

"**Oh, man," mumbles Zach, his face flaming, "I don't think I can listen to this." He clamps his hands over his ears and stumbles back toward his seat.**

"Guess I can't completely hate him," muttered Stewart.

**Ethan hoots with laughter. "Zach has a secret admirer – Hawthorne the Heifer!"**

"Him on the other hand, I have no trouble hating," commented Stewart as he and Darcy clenched their fists.

"**Wait!" shrieks Becca. "You didn't hear the best part!" She yells out the rest of the verse. "'My heart stops! Flip flops! Zach is back! Zach is back! And I'm having another Zach attack!'"**

**The Fab Four howl, taking up the refrain. "I'm having another Zach attack!"**

Becca and Megan opened their mouths to apologize but Emma held up her hand. "This took place five years ago and the both of you apologized years ago. There is no need to apologize now and no hard feelings," she said smiling at them. Megan and Becca smiled back but they knew they would always feel a little guilty for what they did that day.

"**That's enough," says a cool voice.**

**The Fab Four start guiltily. Mrs. Hawthorne is standing beside them. Ethan melts away. Mrs. Hawthorne holds out her hand. Without a word, Becca hands the journal to her. Mrs. Hawthorne gives her a reproachful look. "You know better, Rebecca Chadwick." She turns to Megan. "And I'm surprised at you, too, Megan."**

**Megan looks at the floor.**

"That's cause I was too," Megan said quietly.

**Sobbing, Emma hurls herself at her mother. Mrs. Hawthorne puts her arms around her. "Did I see your mother here, Becca?"**

**Becca nods.**

"**Go get her for me, would you, please? I need to have a word with her."**

**The Fab Four vanish, leaving me and Emma alone with her mother. Mrs. Hawthorne slips the journal into her daughter's backpack.**

"**Why don't you wait for me in the car, honey," she says, pulling a tissue out of her purse and dabbing at Emma's eyes and tear-stained glasses. "Tryouts will be over soon and then we can go home."**

"**I can't believe they'd do that!" Emma wails.**

"**I know, honey," says her mother, her voice gentle. "It was cruel and heartless and you didn't deserve it."**

"**I've never been so humiliated in my entire life," Emma sniffles. "I want to go home right now."**

"**I have to wait for Darcy," her mother says.**

"**We brought our bikes," I tell Mrs. Hawthorne. "Maybe we could just ride home."**

**Mrs. Hawthorne nods, and Emma runs out of the rink.**

**She's already on her bike and pedaling like fury by the time I get to mine. I don't catch up with her until we reach the library. Emma zips across Main Street and heads for the shortcut to Lowell Road, just past Colonial Academy. I follow, burrowing my chin in my jacket against the sharp November wind.**

"**I hate Becca Chadwick's guts!"**

"I don't blame you," said several people in the room, including Becca herself.

**Emma shouts, the wind whipping her words back to me. "Ethan's, too! And I'll never forgive Megan as long as I live!"**

The whole room laughed at that and ended up releasing the building tension in the air. "You don't manage to keep that vow long do you Em?" Nicholas says as he struggles to catch his breath.

**She skids to a stop in front of her house, abandons her bike on the lawn, and dashes into the house. I'm right behind her.**

"**Hey, girls!" Mr. Hawthorne calls as he hears us come in. He pokes his head out of his study. Emma rushes past and pelts up the stairs to her room.**

"**Everything okay?" asks her father, frowning.**

"Really Nick, I'm not that observant and even I would be able to tell that everything is not okay," said Megan's dad, while shaking his head.

"Shut up Jerry," retorted Mr. Hawthorne in good humor.

"**Um, not exactly," I tell him, explaining what happened.**

**He goes upstairs after Emma. I head to the kitchen. The clock on the wall ticks softly as I rummage for butter and eggs and all the other ingredients we need for making cookies. Then I settle in at the kitchen table with my homework.**

**I love the Hawthornes' kitchen. Emma's mother painted it pink, and it's always cheerful, even on a cold gray afternoon like this one.**

"When we painting the house, we were able to always agree on the color we wanted to paint each room. But we had vastly different opinions on what color to paint the kitchen. Phoebe wanted it _pink_," Mr. Hawthorne said shivering dramatically, "while I wanted a neutral beige, but she didn't let go of wanting the kitchen pink," he finished with a roll of his eyes.

"Thank goodness," said all of the people in the room except for Nicholas. Emma's dad frowned at that and crossed his arms like a little toddler with a tantrum.

"Admit it. You like the pink," teased his wife. Half of his mouth was turned up into a smile by the time Shannon started reading again.

**There are a handful of places on earth where I feel completely safe, and the Hawthornes' kitchen is one of them. Our barn at home is another.**

"Should add another one to the list," Jess quietly said to Darcy so that the others wouldn't be able to hear her, "I always feel completely safe when I'm in your arms."

Darcy smiled at Jess when he heard that and kissed the top of her head.

**Melville, the Hawthornes' orange tiger cat, comes in to see what we're up to. He twines himself around my legs, then hops up into my lap.**

"**Hey, Mel," I say softly, scratching him under the chin. "How's it going?"**

**Mel sniffs my jeans cautiously. He probably smells Sugar, and maybe our horses and goats, too. I overslept this morning and didn't have time to change after chores. I tickle him with the end of my braid and he swats at it playfully, then starts to knead my leg, purring as he snuggles down for a nap.**

**Melville likes me. Most animals do. **

"That explains Darcy then," said Cassidy, trying to keep a straight face.

When the rest of the room burst out laughing at the comment, which served to get louder when Darcy looked at them all with his mouth open and an incredulous look on his face.

**In fact, I've been thinking that maybe I'd like to be a veterinarian when I grow up. Animals are a lot less complicated than people. Especially dogs. Dogs love you, and that's that.**

"Thank god for that," said Emma, just as her dog Pip came barreling through the door. Pip climbed into Emma's lap and settled down to read with the rest of the book club and their families.

**They don't betray their friends, and they'd never do something low-down like reading your journal aloud in public.**

"So you're ranting Jess – style," commented Gigi.

"Jess – style?" Jess said with a curious look on her face.

"Doing a lot of ranting on the inside and only ranting to others when you've been pushed to the limit," Gigi replied.

Jess thought about it for a moment and realized that it made sense with the way she handled most of her arguments and asked her mom to continue reading.

**Dogs never leave the people they love. Dogs don't run off to New York to be actors.**

Shannon and Jess flinched as they heard that and Michael wrapped his arms around the two of his girls.

**Emma finally reappears. Her eyes are still red, but she's washed her face and is looking calmer.**

"**Did you finish the assignment for book club?" she asks me.**

"**Yeah."**

"**I didn't quite finish chapter 10. I've read it before, but it was ages ago and I can't remember what happens. Do you think you could read it out loud while I start the cookies?"**

"**Sure," I reply. I nudge Melville gently off my lap and pull **_**Little Women**_** out of my backpack. Across the kitchen, Emma starts to measure and sift and pour.**

"**Which March do you like best?" she asks me as I flip through the pages.**

"**Jo, of course," I reply.**

"**Me, too," says Emma. She cracks one egg into the dough, then another. Emma is a really good cook, just like her dad. And just like him, she's a good writer, too.**

Emma's dad smiled proudly at the fact that his daughter mostly took after him.

**That "Zach Attack" poem was pretty good. I loved the lone, "Eyes the color of the wind."**

"Thanks Jess," said Emma with a smile.

**Not that I'd ever bring it up.**

"I'm glad that you didn't bring it up at the time. I probably would have ended up taking it the wrong way," Emma chuckled.

**Emma measures out a teaspoon of vanilla, then another. This is her secret ingredient for chocolate chip cookies – an extra teaspoon of vanilla.**

"Not so much of a secret anymore," grumbled Emma, as she turned a mock glare on Jess.

"Everybody knows it by now anyway Em, so technically I didn't give away any secrets," said Jess with a smile that said, _I have the upper hand._

Emma shook her head as a small smile appeared on her face.

**I know this because we make chocolate chip cookies at her house at least once a week.**

"**Which sister do you think you're most like?" she asks me, popping a handful of chocolate chips into her mouth.**

**I shrug, "Beth, maybe."**

**Emma cocks her head and studies me. "Definitely Beth," she says. "You love animals and music, and you're, you know – shy."**

**I give her a wry smile. "I wish I was more like Jo. She's not afraid of anything."**

"**I know. I wish I was more like her too. Jo wouldn't let Becca Chadwick walk all over her."**

"Probably not," said Becca with a full smile on her face since the chapter began.

"**But you are like Jo! You want to be a writer, don't you?"**

**Emma dumps the rest of the chocolate chips into the cookie dough. "Yeah, but I think I'm more like Meg in some ways. I'm not as brave as Jo, and I'm kind of a homebody."**

"Now, I think that has changed," Phoebe said.

**I find chapter 10. "As spring came on, a new set of amusements became the fashion," I begin, and quickly find myself wrapped up in the antics of the Pickwick Club. I haven't said a word to anyone, not even Emma, but I really like **_**Little Women**_**. Reading about the March family gives me that same safe feeling as being in my barn and in the Hawthornes' pink kitchen.**

"I'm glad Jess," said Mrs. Hawthorne, who knew that the girl needed that safe feeling that year more than ever.

**Emma smiles when I get to the part about Laurie setting up a post office in an old birdhouse where he and the March girls can leave one another presents and letters.**

"**The P.O. was a capital little institution, and flourished wonderfully," I read, as Emma slides the sheet of cookies into the oven, She passes me a spoonful of dough, I take a nibble, then read on, describing the various surprises the friends leave in the birdhouse. Emma licks her spoon thoughtfully as I read about the gardener who sends a love letter to Hannah, the Marches' decidedly unromantic housekeeper. "How they laughed when the secret came out, never dreaming how many love letters that little post office would hold in the years to come!"**

"**Do you think we'll ever get love letters?" Emma asks. She has a faraway look on her face, and I figure she's thinking about Zach.**

Emma blushed as she saw everyone's turned towards her.

**I hesitate. I can't imagine anybody wanting to write me one, that's for sure.**

Jess smiled. Darcy had slipped a love letter into one of her suitcases and she had found it when she had been unpacking from their trip to England. It was one of the sweetest things that someone had done for her and was made even more special by the fact that it was given to her by the boy she had a crush on for the last five years.

**And Emma? I look at the flour streaked across her round, cheerful face and the smear of chocolate on the front of her shirt. Emma is my best friend in the whole world, but to be honest I can't imagine anybody writing a love letter to her, either. Especially not Zach Norton. But I don't tell her that.**

"Thank god he didn't do that. Stewart doesn't need any more reasons to hate Zach than the ones he has now," said Emma, who was trying to make her friend laugh, knowing that she had felt awful about what she had thought. Jess's smile didn't quite reach her eyes and Emma decided to talk to Jess about this after the chapter was finished.

"**Sure," I tell her. "We'll get dozens of love letters someday."**

"**I remember the first time I read **_**Little Women**_**," Emma continues. "I couldn't wait to find out who would write love letters to Jo!"**

**I laugh. "And remember how I'd seen the movie and knew what happened?" I recall. "I tried to tell you, but you covered your ears with your hands and screamed."**

"**Did I really scream?"**

"**Oh, yeah. You wouldn't let me tell you."**

"**Nope," says Emma, shaking her head. "I remember that part. I didn't want you to spoil it for me. I wanted to read the book and find out for myself."**

**I look down at the book, and think about the heartbreak that I know is waiting for the March family and their friends. Just like real life, not all stories end happily. Sometimes friends betray us, and the people we love don't always love us back. Sometimes people die or leave us.**

"No story is perfect. Whatever obstacles, trials, or sufferings appear in our path we have to get through them if we ever want to know our ending. Happy or not, it is no use to worry about the ending when you should live in the now," said Gigi.

**I don't know yet if there will be a happy ending for me and my family. If life were a book, would I want to skip ahead to the ending? Or would I rather wait and read along to find out, like Emma said? I'm not sure.**

"And now?" Shannon asked her daughter.

"I'm still not sure, but I feel like I want to see how this story plays out," Jess replies, squeezing Darcy's hand.

Her mother nodded and continued to read.

**I close **_**Little Women**_** and set it on the table.**

**The buzzer goes off and Mr. Hawthorne appears in the doorway, sniffing hopefully. "Is that chocolate chip cookies I smell?"**

"**Perfect timing," says Emma, taking the tray out of the oven.**

**Mr. Hawthorne settles in across the table from me. "**_**Little Women**_**, eh?" he says, picking it up. "A great American classic. I'm more of a Huck Finn kind of guy myself, but I guess it's a girl thing.**

"NICHOLAS HAWTHORNE! _Little Women_ is a great piece of American literature and should not just be classified as a girl's book!" shouts Phoebe. Her husband cowered under her glare and didn't dare to move.

"Of course dear. I'm sorry that was just a mistake on my part," Nicholas said choosing his words carefully, trying to appease his wife. For the moment, she seemed satisfied but everyone who was around her slowly moved away in case she decided to shout again.

**I know your mother is having a wonderful time with this book club, Emma. You girls enjoying it too?"**

"**Sort of," says Emma, and I nod.**

"**That's good. I know it means a lot to your mother, Emma, to be able to spend some time with you." Mr. Hawthorne pauses and looks over at me, his brown eyes thoughtful. Both of us are suddenly aware that there is a big hole in the conversation.**

"Guilty," Shannon said softly.

**Normally he would have said, "And to your mother too, Jess," but of course he can't because she's not here.**

Phoebe glared at her husband and he felt that he rightly deserved it for making this conversation unnecessarily awkward.

**After a minute he continues lightly, "I saw your brothers the other day at the grocery store, Jess. They sure are growing up fast. Are they in kindergarten this year?"**

"**First grade."**

"**Holy mackerel! Already?" Mr. Hawthorne shakes his head. "It seems like just last year you girls were in first grade." He holds his hand out for a cookie. Emma passes him one and he takes a bite. "Mmmmm. Perfect. How about Half Moon Farm? Things going well? How's your father doing?"**

**I feel my face grow hot. How does he think my father is doing, for Pete's sake? I can only imagine how Mr. Hawthorne would be doing if Mrs. Hawthorne had left and the whole town knew it because her face was plastered all over the TV every afternoon at three thirty.**

"JESSICA DELANEY! How dare you think that? Your Uncle Nick was just asking a simple question and then you go to psychoanalyzing this and to accusing him. No one is trying to make fun of our family situation and you shouldn't have jumped to such conclusions," Shannon shouts to her daughter.

**But Mr. Hawthorne isn't trying to be mean, he's just being polite, so I don't say any of that. "Okay, I guess," I mumble instead.**

"I'm sorry about that Uncle Nick. I have no idea what got into me. I was just angry about the whole situation and I unnecessarily took it out on you. I'm sorry," Jess apologized.

Emma's dad got up and went over to Jess. He gave her a hug and ruffled her hair. "Don't worry about it Jess. All in the past and I understand about all of the stress and anger just getting to you," he told her before going back to his seat.

**Mr. Hawthorne reaches across the table and pats my hand gently. He pushes back from the table. "There's a casserole in the fridge, girls. Would you mind popping it in when you're done with your baking?" He grabs another cookie as he heads for the door. "I'll be in my study if you need anything."**

**When the cookies are finished, Emma puts the casserole in the oven and we get started on our homework. I'm helping Emma with math when we hear the front door open.**

"**It's them!" Emma jumps up and runs out of the kitchen. I'm right behind her.**

"**I can't believe the nerve of that man," Mrs. Hawthorne takes off her coat and gives it an angry shake. "And that woman. Shame on them both."**

Calliope blushed.

"**Shame on who both?" asks Mr. Hawthorne, poking his head out of his study again. "What's going on? Didn't you make the team, Darcy?"**

"**Oh, I made it," says Darcy. He grins. "So did Cassidy."**

**Emma whoops and we both rush over to congratulate her. Cassidy slaps us each a high five.**

**Emma's father's eyebrows nearly spring off his forehead. "Cassidy made the **_**boys'**_** team?"**

"That threw me for a loop," laughed Nick.

"**That's the point, dear," says Mrs. Hawthorne crisply. "There is no girls' team at the middle school. And until he found out Cassidy was a girl, Coach Danner was all set to let her play."**

"**You should see her skate, Dad!" says Darcy. "She's awesome!"**

"**Is that right?" Mr. Hawthorne replies, giving Cassidy a bemused look.**

"Whenever Bob and I got together, he was always talking about how girls have no ability to skate and if they had any self – respect they should stick to figure- skating. I would have paid to see his face when you took your helmet off," Emma's dad said.

Darcy, Stewart, and Cassidy who had actually seen Coach Danner's face when the helmet came off started laughing at that.

"I should've taken a picture," Cassidy mused as she remembered her coach's incredulous face.

"**It's a good thing I arrived when I did to pick up Darcy," Mrs. Hawthorne continues, pulling a hanger out of the hall closet and jabbing it into the sleeves of her coat. "When I heard what had happened, I reminded Coach Danner in no uncertain terms about Title IX. By federal law, he cannot discriminate on the basis of gender. Cassidy is entitled to a spot on that team."**

"**I'll bet Bob was delighted to hear that," says Emma's father under his breath.**

"As pleased as a pretty princess in pink," Cassidy said with a straight face.

Everyone looked towards her. "What? There's nothing wrong with my analogy," grumbled Cassidy as her mother patted her head of unruly hair.

"Whatever you say Cass," said Courtney, who made the sign for crazy and pointed to Cassidy when Cassidy had turned herself towards the book. Everybody struggled to keep their laughs under control. Cassidy saw that everyone was staring and laughing at something that was behind her so she quickly turned around. Cassidy saw Courtney making the universal sign for a crazy person and stuck her tongue out at her older sister. That did it. The room erupted into laughter and couldn't stop for a good two minutes. Once she calmed herself down, Shannon began to read again.

**Mrs. Hawthorne shoots him a look. "The law is the law."**

"**So how come he didn't know Cassidy was a girl?"**

**Cassidy holds up Darcy's old helmet.**

"**Aha," says Mr. Hawthorne. "Of course." He looks at Emma and me. "Do I detect a small conspiracy here? A pair of partners in crime? Wasn't Cassidy supposed to spend the afternoon here, doing homework with you two?"**

**I am suddenly fascinated by the pattern in the hall carpet. Emma is staring down at it too.**

"It was very intriguing," said Jess.

"Stimulating," Emma said with a smirk.

"Truly captivating," said Darcy.

"Really kids? Because I had always found it to be boring," Lily said.

"Dull," Shannon chimed in.

"Completely uninteresting," said Phoebe with a smile.

"'**Oh! What a tangled web we weave,'" Emma's father continues solemnly. "Sir Walter Scott. However, to be fair – and to quote yet another literary immortal, Shakespeare this time – 'all's well that ends well.'"**

"**And that Calliope Chadwick!" continues Mrs. Hawthorne.**

"**What did the harpy do this time?"**

"**Her son Stewart didn't make the team, and she's got it in her head that somehow it's all Cassidy's fault, that if she would just resign gracefully, Stewart would be put on the team in her place."**

**Mr. Hawthorne's forehead puckers. "Is that true?"**

"Nope," said Cassidy, making a popping sound on the "p".

**Darcy shakes his head. "No way, Dad. Stewart can barely skate."**

"**And then to top it off, that blister of a daughter of hers stole Emma's journal out of her backpack and read part of it aloud to some boys."**

"**So I hear," Mr. Hawthorne says soberly.**

"**WHAT?" Cassidy explodes. "Becca Chadwick is a weasel!"**

"You're less of a weasel now," Cassidy says. A smile appears on Becca's face while she is shaking her head at Cassidy.

"**Now, Cassidy," says Mrs. Hawthorne.**

"**But she is!"**

**Mrs. Hawthorne sighs. "Well, yes, in this case I would say she certainly exhibited weasel – like behavior. I had a word with her mother about that."**

"**Uh-oh," says Mr. Hawthorne. "And how did Mama Bear feel about having her cub criticized?"**

"Unfortunately, Mama Bear thought the best thing to do was to fight back," Calliope said with a blush and as she fidgeted nervously. "Let's just say it do go well."

"**Let's just say it didn't go over very well," Emma's mother replies.**

"Deja –vu," said Stanley.

**The buzzer on the oven goes off again.**

"**Dinner is served," announces Mr. Hawthorne.**

**Emma and I set the table while Cassidy and Darcy quickly shower and change. The dining room is my next-favorite room at the Hawthornes' house, after the kitchen.**

"Same here," said several others in the room.

**There are shelves on all four walls, and they're lined with books.**

"We do what we can to be unique," Nicholas chuckled.

**I've never seen a house with so many books in it, period.**

"I think you manage to succeed," quips Clementine.

**My house has books too, but not nearly so many. We have more animals, though, and sometimes they wind up in the house, even the ones that shouldn't.**

The Delaney family chuckled at various funny memories of when animals winded up in the house and created havoc.

**Mom used to hate that.**

Shannon shook her head at that. "I only hated it Jess when I was really stressed or angry. I didn't hate living on the farm or the animals all the time," she said.

**The only animal the Hawthornes have is Melville,**

"Not anymore," the girls said in a sing – song voice as they looked towards Pip, who was going from person to person as the chapter continued.

**who has followed us into the dining room in hopes of snagging himself a front-row seat at the coming meal. I give him a quick pat as Mr. Hawthorne sets garlic bread and salad on the table with the macaroni and cheese. Everything smells delicious.**

Mr. Hawthorne sees the hungry looks on Stewart, Darcy, and Cassidy and proceeds to laugh.

"I suppose we know what to have for dinner tonight," he says, "We'll eat after this chapter is finished."

"**I'm starved," says Darcy.**

"I couldn't agree with you more Darcy," Darcy says in a serious voice.

"**Me, too," echoes Cassidy,**

"I thought that this had already been established Cassidy," Cassidy said, in an equally serious voice. Darcy and Cassidy looked towards each other and then laughed. The rest of the room shook their heads and smiled at their antics.

**and as we dig in the two of them give us a hilarious blow-by-blow of Stewart Chadwick's bungled hockey tryout.**

"Happy to provide the dinner entertainment," said Stewart, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"**Speaking of tryouts," says Emma finally, "I have an announcement to make."**

**We all look over at her.**

"**Jess is going to try out for the lead in **_**Beauty and the Beast**_**."**

**My fork stops halfway between my plate and my mouth. "Emma!" I protest , mortified. "I told you – the answer is no."**

Emma snorted. "Like that was supposed to stop me," she said.

"**The middle school musical? Perfect!" says Mrs. Hawthorne enthusiastically. "With your voice, you'd make a wonderful Belle."**

"**She's right, Jess," says Darcy. "I remember hearing you at Emma's chorus concert last spring. That solo you sang? It was really good."**

"**Really?" The word comes out a squeak, and I blush.**

"I was surprised that you remembered that," she mumbled quietly, as her face turned red.

**He reaches over and tugs on my braid. His brown eyes are warm. "Sure."**

Darcy kissed his girlfriend's cheek and saw, if possible, her face becoming even redder, as she smiled at him.

"**See, Jess?" says Emma smugly. "I told you."**

**I stare down at my macaroni and cheese like I'm looking at it through a microscope, I've never noticed before how much elbow noodles look like amoebas.**

All of the girls of the book club, except for Jess, groaned at that sentence. Jess looked towards them curiously. "You always make everything so sciencey," Cassidy said in explanation.

"I'm pretty sure that sciencey isn't a word Cassidy," said Jess, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, Madam Science, sciencey is now a word," retorted Cassidy childishly and then proceeded to stick out her tongue.

"Whatever you say Cass," replied Jess in amusement.

**I prod at them with my fork. "Maybe," I say finally.**

**Before anybody can say anything else, there's a knock at the door. Mrs. Hawthorne glances at her watch. "The book club!" she exclaims. "I almost forgot."**

**Darcy and I will do the dishes," says Mr. Hawthorne. "You ladies go join your guests."**

"**I hope we're not too early," says Mrs. Wong as Mrs. Hawthorne opens the front door.**

"**Don't be silly," Mrs. Hawthorne replies. "Friends can never be too early.**

"Remember that Clementine the next time one of us (or all of us) show up 3 hours early to one of your get together," says Phoebe. Clementine rolled her eyes at that.

**Come on in, we're just finishing up."**

**Megan looks a little surprised to see me and Cassidy sitting at the dinner table. For a second, I catch a flash of another emotion on her face. Disappointment, maybe, but the expression is fleeting.**

"I was remembering how I used to sit at the table and have dinner with you guys," said Megan.

**She coolly pulls her cell phone from her purse and taps out a text message while Emma's mother hangs up their coats.**

"I didn't want anyone to know that I cared," Megan said quietly.

**We're all moving into the living room when there's another knock at the door. It's Clementine Sloane, and she doesn't even say hello, she just strides in.**

"I'll be bringing this up the next time you give me a lecture on my manners," Cassidy vows.

Clementine rolled her eyes at her daughter.

**She does not look happy.**

"**Did you put her up to this?" she demands, glaring at Emma's mother.**

"I am really sorry for accusing you Phoebe," apologizes Clementine, who was ashamed of her behavior at the time.

"Don't worry about it Clem. We all apologized for this already," replied Phoebe.

"**Put who up to what?" Mrs. Hawthorne blinks at her, confused.**

"**Cassidy went behind my back and tried out for the boys' hockey team," Mrs. Sloane explains grimly. "No sooner do I get off the phone with Calliope Chadwick, who has her knickers in a twist because Cassidy took her son's place on the team – or so she tells me – than I get a call from Coach Danner. He said something about Title IX, and that he'd checked and the town librarian was right, that legally Cassidy is entitled to a spot on the team."**

**Mrs. Hawthorne looks over at me and Emma and Cassidy, then back at Mrs. Sloane. "I see," she says slowly. "Clementine, please believe me, I had no idea that Cassidy was at the rink without your permission."**

**Mrs. Sloane puts her hands on her hips. "She told me she'd been invited here after school," she snaps. "You mean to tell me you had no idea about that, either?"**

"**Of course I knew about that," says Mrs. Hawthorne. "The girls asked if they could spend the afternoon here before book club. They wanted to do their science homework together and make cookies for our meeting."**

**That fleeting expression I spotted earlier reappears on Megan's face when she hears this. But it disappears just as quickly.**

Megan shakes her head. "Always the observant one Jess?" she says.

"**They were cooking something up all right, but it wasn't treats for the book club," retorts Mrs. Sloane.**

"**But, Mom, I made the team!" Cassidy protests. "The coach said I was one of the best skaters he'd ever seen – before he knew I was a girl, I mean."**

"He still says you're one of the best skaters he has ever seen, girl or guy," says Emma's dad.

Cassidy smiles at the praises of her old coach, making a mental note to go see him at the rink.

"**How did you keep it a secret?"**

"**The coach couldn't tell under the helmet."**

"**Your helmet's at home, on the hall bench," says Mrs. Sloane.**

**Cassidy's eyes slide over to the doorway, where Emma's brother and father are watching. Darcy starts to do a slow fade. "Um, I borrowed a helmet," she says.**

"**Borrowed? From whom? From Emma?"**

Emma snorts. "I'll play hockey Aunt C when Megan doesn't care about fashion," she said.

**Mr. Hawthorne steps into the room. "From my son, actually," he says, gripping Darcy firmly by the shoulder and drawing him forward.**

"BUSTED!" yelled Cassidy and Stewart. They gave each other high – fives and everyone else around them temporary hearing loss. Darcy took turns glaring at both of them.

"**The whole family was in on this?" says Mrs. Sloane, her voice rising.**

"**Clementine, I told you, Nick and I had no idea that Cassidy went behind your back to do this," Mrs. Hawthorne says hastily. "As for the kids, well, all I can say is, it won't happen again."**

"**You're right about that," snaps Mrs. Sloane. "Cassidy, get your things."**

"**Now, Clementine, please -"**

**Across from Emma and me, Megan is looking like the cat who ate the canary. She's clearly loving the fact that we're in trouble and she's not.**

Megan nods. "I was but I got an earful the second I got home," she said.

"**Excuse me, but did you say something about Title IX?" asks Mrs. Wong.**

**Megan's smug smile fades a little. Cassidy's mother nods.**

"**But that's fantastic!" Mrs. Wong exclaims. "This could be a ground-breaking event! Just think of the ripple effect it could have at schools across the state. We'll have to call the sports editor at the Boston **_**Post**_**. I can see the headlines: 'Cassidy Sloane: Concord's Rebel on Skates.'"**

"You should have done it, Aunt Lily. I liked the sound of rebel on skates," Cassidy laughs.

**Mrs. Sloane narrows her gorgeous blue supermodel eyes.**

"Thank you Jess," said Clementine.

"**Lily," she warns, "stay out of this. My daughter doesn't need to become the poster child for one of your causes."**

**Megan's mother looks like she's been slapped.**

"I'm really sorry about that Lily. That was a low blow and I just said that in anger," Clementine said, and just as she was about to continue to apologize, Megan's mom held up her hand.

"It's fine Clem," shrugged Lily, "At the time it hurt but I know you didn't really mean it."

**Megan looks embarrassed.**

"I always was whenever someone mentioned anything about the causes and charities," said Megan, in explanation.

"**But that's beside the point," Mrs. Sloane continues. "The point is that nobody should be interfering with my family. Nobody should be going behind my back, aiding and abetting my daughter in flouting my rules."**

"**You're right, Clementine, of course, and I apologize if that's what this looks like," says Mrs. Hawthorne. "Again, I assure you we never would have done any of this if we had known that you didn't approve." She hesitates for a moment, giving Cassidy a sidelong glance. Then she continues. "I understand how upset you are, but what's done is done. And from what I hear, Cassidy certainly proved herself out there on the ice today. Would it be such a terrible thing for her to play hockey?"**

"Thanks for sticking up for me, Aunt Phoebe," said Cassidy, smiling at Emma's mom, "It really meant a lot to me."

"You're very welcome, Cassidy," Phoebe kindly replied.

"**Hockey is dangerous!" cries Mrs. Sloane. "Cassidy could get hurt! You know that as well as I do, Phoebe."**

"I do Clementine, but I let my son play," Phoebe said quietly.

"**Mom, I've been playing for years," Cassidy protests. "Dad never worried about me getting hurt."**

Cassidy and her mother smile proudly at that.

**The room falls silent at the mention of Cassidy's father.**

**Mrs. Hawthorne lays her hand gently on Clementine Sloane's arm. "Perhaps we could all sit down and discuss this calmly over cookies?"**

"**There's nothing to discuss," says Mrs. Sloane coldly, pulling away. "Cassidy, get your things."**

"**I wish you weren't my mother!" cries Cassidy, a mutinous look on her face. "I hate you!"**

"I didn't mean it Mom," Cassidy said. Her mother held out her arms and Cassidy went over to her.

"It's okay, sweetheart. It was just the anger talking. Just the anger," said Clementine, trying to comfort her daughter.

**Now Mrs. Sloane is the one who looks like she's been slapped.**

Cassidy winced at that and held her mother tighter. Clementine smiled at that. Her younger daughter's protectiveness of friends and family, a combined trait of hers and David's was one of the many things she loved about Cassidy.

**Wordlessly, she grips Cassidy by the arm, gathers up her backpack and hockey bag, and marches her out of the room. She pauses by the front door and turns, giving us all one last glance. "I thought you were my friends," she says bitterly, and slams the door behind her.**

Before Clementine could open her mouth again to apologize, Phoebe and Lily said at the same time, "It's fine, Clementine!" The three women laughed as Phoebe and Lily gave each other high – fives.

**Nobody says anything for a long minute. Then Mrs. Hawthorne sighs. "Well, girls, I guess book club is over for tonight."**

"**For tonight?" Emma whispers to me, as Megan and Mrs. Wong get their coats. "How about forever?"**

**She's probably right. I can't imagine Mrs. Sloane speaking to any of us again. Not after tonight. The club will probably be disbanded. I'm surprised to find that this makes me sad. I guess I like book club more than I thought I did.**

"I'm glad Jess," said Phoebe.

**Melville slinks out from under the sofa, where he's been hiding from all the loud voices. He hops up into my lap again, stretches, and starts to purr. I scratch him under his chin and bury my nose in his fur. At least Mel isn't angry.**

**Like I said, animals are a lot less complicated than people.**

"I stand by that statement," said Jess, "But I enjoy people too."

"That's the end of the chapter. Who wants to read next after dinner?" Shannon asked

"I will," said Calliope, taking the book from Shannon and placing it on her seat. Everyone in the group who could cook moved to the kitchen while the rest waited in the living room.


	6. Winter - Cassidy

**A/N: Hi everyone. Couple of announcements. Due to unforseen circumstances I no longer have a beta and so any mistakes you see in the previous chapter and in this one are completely my fault.**

**If anyone is interested in the position, please don't hesitate to contact me. Also expect more frequent updates now that summer is going to start for me in 4 more days.**

**Thank you to everyone who reads, favorites, or even alerts this story. You don't know how much I appreciate it.**

**Hope you like the chapter and have a great summer!  
><strong>

**- tph  
><strong>

* * *

><p>The group went to have a dinner of macaroni and cheese, salad, garlic bread, and cookies and after they finished eating and cleaning up they went back to the living room to read.<p>

Calliope picked up the book and began.

**Winter. "What a trying world it is! No sooner do we get out of one trouble than down comes another." – Little Women.**

"And it just keeps going," groaned all the moms in the room, while the girls frowned in mock hurt.

**Cassidy**

"Yay, me again," Cassidy said in a falsely cheerful voice.

"**Don't worry about me; I'll be as prim as I can, and not get into any scrapes if I can help it."**

"If I can help it," says Cassidy, as soon as she sees her mom open her mouth. Clementine rolls her eyes at her daughter, knowing that Cassidy can help most of the trouble she gets into.

"**Tell them to hurry," my mother says as we pull up in front of Walden Middle School. "Book club starts in half an hour."**

"**Okay." I hop out of our minivan and jog to the front door. Inside, the lobby is deserted. School always feels a little weird at night – all those empty, echoing hallways and closed lockers and dark classrooms.**

"I agree. Can you imagine how creepy it would be to be stuck alone at school?" Becca shuddered.

**I can hear the faint strains of music from the auditorium, and I jog on down the hall, hoping I don't smell too bad. I've just come from hockey practice and haven't had a chance to shower yet.**

**After the disaster with the tryouts last month, my mother hauled me off to a shrink.**

"Cassidy Ann, Dr. Weisman is a family counselor not a shrink," said Clementine.

Calliope looked at the book and chuckled. Everyone looked towards her. She shook her head and continued reading as an answer.

**Excuse me, "family counselor."**

"Glad you understand," Clementine muttered, blushing as the rest of the room laughed at the similarity between mother and daughter.

**But Dr. Weisman is really a shrink – I saw the diplomas on his wall. We sat there in his office and right in front of me my mother told him that she thought there was something seriously wrong with me, that ever since Dad died I'd been rebellious and sneaky and mean to her and that she couldn't handle my snotty attitude anymore. Then she burst into tears.**

"Love you too mom," said Cassidy with an amused smile.

"Ever think you should have been an actress instead of a model Clemmy. You, know since you can spontaneously burst into tears and…" Stanley trailed off as his wife turned to glare at him, "never mind."

**Dr. Weisman handed her a box of tissues. He sent me out into the waiting room so he could talk to her alone. After a while my mother came out and it was my turn. I thought maybe he was going to yell at me but the two of us just talked. He's pretty nice, for a shrink. He didn't ask about my dad, which was a good thing because I wasn't going to tell him anything anyway. We talked about hockey mostly. Turns out, he's a Bruins fan.**

"That makes everything better doesn't it Sloane?" Darcy asked.

Cassidy shrugged and said, "Pretty much."

**Dr. Weisman told me that my father's accident had shaken my mother up really badly, and that it had also made her hypersensitive to danger. He explained that right now what my mother most wanted was to keep her family safe, and that's why she sees hockey as a threat. He asked me if that made sense. I glared at him. So much for nice. I could see where this was going. He'd just been trying to butter me up with all his talk about the Bruins. He'd been on my mother's side all along.**

"So dramatic. Just like your mom," Emma whispered in a voice that only the five girls could hear. Becca, Jess, and Megan silently laughed at their blushing, red – haired friend who was glaring at them like there was no tomorrow.

"**No more hockey forever, right?" I'd snapped.**

**Dr. Weisman had just smiled and asked me to go get my mother. I did and we all sat down again.**

"**Dr. Weisman thinks I should let you play hockey," my mother said stiffly.**

**I gaped at her, shocked. That was the absolute last thing I'd expected her to say. Then I catapulted out of my chair and punched my fist in the air. "Yes!" I crowed.**

"I think someone's happy, don't you Hawthorne?" a chuckling Stewart asked Darcy.

"I'd say so, Chadwick," Darcy replied.

"I think there are two people in here, who shall remain nameless, that should probably shut up. Don't you think Chadwick? Hawthorne? Hopefully before someone gets hurt," Cassidy said in a dangerously calm voice.

"**Sit down, Cassidy," said Dr. Weisman. "Let your mother finish."**

**My mom looked down at her lap and twisted her tissue. "Dr. Weisman says that life is full of things that we can't control."**

**Well, duh, I could have told her that. She could have saved herself a lot of money. Shrinks are expensive.**

"Thank you, Dr. Sloane," Clementine said sarcastically, "Now please tell me whether the this shrink helped you or not."

Silence came from her daughter.

Clementine snickered. "Thought so," she said, motioning for Calliope to continue reading.

"**He says that while it's normal that I want to keep you safe, I need to be careful not to overdo it," she continued. "He said we've had so much sadness in our lives this past year that I need to think about what's best for you, too, and not just what's best for me."**

**Dr. Weisman asked me if I knew what a compromise was. I said yeah, it's when people agree to give up stuff and do stuff to make other people happy. He said that's right, and explained that being able to compromise is especially important for families. He asked if I'd be willing to do a few things for my mother in exchange for being able to play hockey.**

"I'd bet you'd be willing to do anything so you can play hockey," said Megan.

**Was he kidding? I'd do **_**anything**_** to be able to play hockey!**

Megan said, "It's a sad day when you begin to think like Cassidy Sloane." Said friend glared at her, while the kids laughed and the adults let out small chuckles of amusement.

"I probably should have asked for more when I had the opportunity," Clementine mused, while snapping her fingers in mock disappointment.

**As it turned out, my mother's conditions weren't too bad. I'm supposed to work on my attitude, mostly. She wants me to be more polite and respectful and not mouth off to her all the time. She wants me to be more ladylike and have better manners. I wasn't sure about the ladylike part,**

"Me neither," Clementine said.

**but I said I'd try.**

"Which I'm glad for," smiled Clementine.

**Dr. Weisman had my mother and me sign a contract, and we're supposed to see him once a month for a while. Just to talk about things.**

**So that's why I'm running down the hall at Walden Middle School wearing a Concord Comets uniform and smelling like a laundry hamper.**

"Cassidy, just a curiosity question but how do you know what the inside of a laundry hamper smells like?" asked Shannon.

Cassidy pointed to her mother and sister. "I blame them. If they hadn't tried to make me go for a girls' day out of shopping, salon, and sushi, then I wouldn't have had to hide from them. Dad hid me in a laundry hamper until they left," she said, grumbling.

**I open the door to the auditorium and slip into the back. Jessica Delaney is up on stage with Zach Norton. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I found out Zach had tried out for the play.**

"Why?" asked Megan's dad.

"It will probably explain," Cassidy said pointing to the book.

**Somehow I never took him for the actor type.**

"Ok," said Jerry.

"That's because you've never heard him sing before," Becca said.

**He got one of the leads, too – he's playing Beast. I slip into the back row of seats and listen for a minute as he and Jess practice a duet. Emma was right: Jess has a great voice.**

"Thanks Cassidy," Jess smiled.

**Zach's not bad either.**

While the boys were teasing her for that comment, Becca glared at Cassidy. Thankfully, Cassidy didn't notice.

"**I still can't believe Goat Girl took your part!" I hear somebody whisper.**

"You heard that," Becca said quietly. Cassidy nodded her head.

**I squint in the darkness and spot Becca Chadwick and the rest of the Fab Four sitting a few rows ahead of me.**

**Megan nods.**

"**Well, she only got it because her mother left and Mrs. Adams feels sorry for her," says Becca.**

Becca looks guiltily down at the floor. As does her mother and Megan. Shannon sighs and thinks about her leaving. Would her pride have been able to handle it if her leaving was the reason Jess was given a part? She knew of course that that wasn't the case, but she couldn't help but wonder.

**The other three heads bob in unison.**

Cassidy laughed in her mind about Fab Four dolls with bobbing heads.

**The Fab Four all tried out for the play too, but they only got cast as dishes. Megan's a dancing plate, Becca's a cup, and Ashley and Jen are silverware. None of them are happy about this – especially Megan. She wanted to be Belle, and she and Becca have been busy spreading rumors ever since about why Jess got the part instead of her.**

Jess anticipated what her friends would do and held up her hand as they opened their mouths. "I got over them a long time ago," she said.

"**Okay, cast, listen up!" says Mrs. Adams, the drama teacher, clapping her hands to get everyone's attention. "I want all lines for scenes one through six memorized by practice on Friday! We've only got two weeks until winter break, and we'll need to hit the ground running when we come back in January if this show is going to be ready!"**

**Jess and Zach hop off the stage. I head down the aisle to meet them. "Jess, we've got to hurry," I tell her. "My mom's waiting in the parking lot."**

"**P-U, Sloane, you stink!" says Zach with a grin, waving his hand in front of his nose.**

**I grin back and punch him in the arm. "You think you're telling me something I don't know?"**

"**How's hockey going?" he asks. "You guys had your first game yet?"**

**I shake my head. "Nope. Saturday's the big day. You should come. We're going to wipe the rink with the Vikings."**

"**You think I'd miss a chance to see you and Third fall on your butts?"**

**I punch him in the arm again and we both laugh.**

**Behind me, I hear giggles. The Fab Four, of course. Like flies to honey – Zach being the honey.**

"Nice way of putting it," commented Nick.

"**You have an awesome voice, Zach," coos Megan.**

"**Uh, thanks," says Zach, drifting away. He's kept his distance from the Fab Four ever since the whole "Zach Attack" thing. And he avoids Emma like the plague.**

"Thank god," muttered Stewart so quietly that only Darcy, who was on his left, and his mom, who was sitting on his right, could hear. Darcy smirked and said nothing, but planning to tease him at a later time. Calliope smiled at her son's jealousy, much like his father's, and continued her reading.

"**We have to go," I tell Megan. "My mom's in the car waiting."**

**Becca looks me up and down. She wrinkles her nose. "Lucky you, Megan," she says sarcastically. "Goat Girl AND the Stinkbomb. Wish I was in your book club."**

The whole room erupted in laughter.

"Becca, dear, I think this is a classic case of be careful what you wish for," said Gigi, as the rest of the room struggled to calm down.

**In response, I grab her in a bear hug and mash her face against my sweaty hockey jersey. "Who's a stinkbomb now?" I demand as she struggles and squeals.**

"Cassidy," sighed Clementine, in exasperation.

**After a minute, I let her go, laughing. Insults rarely bother me, especially when they come from a lamebrain like Becca Chadwick.**

"Now you are no longer a lamebrain," said Cassidy.

"Gee, thanks," Beccas drawled, with a tone heavy on the sarcasm.

**But I can see that it bothers Jess. She hates it when people call her "Goat Girl." Too bad she doesn't stick up for herself more.**

"Definitely changed for the better," said Michael proudly.

"**Dumb jock," Becca snaps, wiping her face with the sleeve of her sweater. "Nice friends, Megan."**

"**I told you they're not my friends," says Megan coolly.**

**The three of us trudge out to the car in silence. Jess and I climb in the back, leaving Megan to sit up front with my mother.**

"**Hello, girls! How was play practice?" Without waiting for an answer, she turns around and sniffs loudly, like a bloodhound catching a whiff of steak. "Whew," she says. "Wish we had time to pop you in the shower. Do you have an extra shirt in your hockey bag?"**

"**Just the one I wore to school today."**

"**Well, go ahead and put it on. You're pretty ripe."**

**I'm on the brink of saying something snarky when I remember Dr. Weisman's contract. "Sure thing, Mom," I reply politely, and she smiles at me in the rearview mirror.**

"You were making an effort. I couldn't be happier," said Cassidy's mom.

**As we pull out of the parking lit and head toward town, I crouch low in my seat and remove my smelly hockey jersey.**

**My mother makes a quick detour to Burger Barn, relaying our orders at the drive-thru window. As she pulls back onto the road, the only sound in the car is the hungry munching of burgers and fries.**

"**You three are awfully quiet tonight," says my mother finally.**

**I take a sip of soda and give Megan a sidelong glance. I can't resist. "You should hear Jess, Mom, she can really sing," I say enthusiastically. "She's going to make a great Belle.**

"And you did," said everyone who had seen the play. Jess blushed at the praise but smiled all the same.

**And, hey, guess who's playing the part of Beast?"**

"**Who?"**

"**Zach Norton. Remember him? From Little League last summer?"**

"**Oh, sure – Zach. That cute blond guy who played first base."**

**Megan stares out the window, her pale oval face a stony mask.**

"Sorry about that Megs. I had no idea what the little devil had been planning," said Clementine apologetically, ignoring the indignant 'Hey' from her daughter.

"It's okay Auntie C. I understand that it was the little demon's fault," said Megan, who ignored her friend's cries as well.

**Serves her right. Megan Wong and her friends may think they're in charge of the entire sixth grade, but that doesn't mean they are.**

"At least you set them straight," said Becca's dad.

**We round Monument Square, drive past the Hawthornes' house, and continue down Lowell Road to a part of town I haven't seen before. Book club is at Megan's house tonight, and she lives way out on Strawberry Hill.**

"**Is this it?" asks my mother, slowing down and peering at the street number on a big stone pillar that marks the entrance to a long driveway.**

**Megan nods.**

"**Wow," I say, catching a glimpse of her house through the leafless trees. It's huge and modern and looks like it's made entirely of glass. "It looks like a spaceship."**

Cassidy snapped her fingers in recognition, "That's the one I forgot."

"That's interesting. It's never been described like that before," said Lily, who promptly became lost in thought.

"**Doesn't it," says my mother politely.**

**She's not crazy about modern architecture. "Old houses are the coziest," she always says.**

"It's the type I've lived in my entire life," Clementine said.

**I think Mr. Hawthorne would probably agree with her. I overheard him talking about the Wongs' house at a barbecue last summer. "A carbuncle upon Concord's pastoral loveliness," he called it. I have no idea what a carbuncle is, but I could tell from his tone of voice that it wasn't something good.**

"Basically, Cassidy," said Nick.

**I think the house is cool, though. And the inside is just as amazing as the outside.**

"We're glad you like it Cass," said Jerry.

**I try not to stare as Mrs. Wong takes our coats. Behind me, my mother is trying not to stare either. Megan's living room is seriously huge. Nearly as big as a hockey rink.**

Emma groaned. "Does everything have to relate to hockey with you?"

"Pretty much," Cassidy shrugged.

**It's a weird shape, too, almost round. And it sticks right out into the middle of the yard, like an escape pod stuck onto the side of a spaceship.**

"I'm sure you're thinking that just because you don't want to be there at the meeting," Phoebe said.

**Too bad I can't push a button and fly myself home. The match between the Bruins and the Rangers will be starting soon on ESPN.**

"Hole in one, Phoebe, hole in one," said Clementine, in mock disappointment.

**The phone rings and Mrs. Wong excuses herself. "Have a seat," she calls, disappearing down the hallway.**

**Jess and Mom and I step down into the room. My sneakers sink into the carpet nearly up to my ankles. It's white, and so is everything else in the room – sofas, chairs, carpets, walls. Even the baby grand piano is white. It's like being in the middle of a blizzard.**

"That's how I thought of it when I was little," Megan said.

**I can't help it,**

"Of course, you can't," sighed Clementine.

**it's just too tempting.**

"Of course, it is" said Stanley, who had a look of mischief in his eye.

_**Push – glide, push – glide, push – glide**_**. I skim across the carpet like I'm flying down the rink, bodycheck a white leather chair with my hip, and spin around to see my mother glaring at me.**

"You weren't being ladylike," mumbled Clementine.

"**Sorry," I mumble, dropping into the chair.**

**I sniff my armpit – passable, now that I have an almost – clean shirt on – and start to put my feet up on the coffee table in front of me. My mother catches my eye and I hesitate. She reaches into her purse and pulls out a piece of paper, waving it in the air like a flag. It's Dr. Weisman's contract.**

"That was my life saver," said Clementine.

Cassidy coughed something that sounded like 'devil contract' before looking innocently up at her mother.

**I heave a sigh and put my feet on the floor instead. She nods, satisfied, and slips the contract back into her purse.**

**She and Jess sit down on the sofa. There's no sign of Megan. My mother is dressed all in red tonight – red pants, red sweater, red leather boots – and she stands out against all the white as vividly as a drop of blood on snow.**

"I'm guessing that you were in a creepy, morbid, horror movie mode that day Sloane," Stewart said.

**Jess reaches out a tentative finger and strokes the clear glass Christmas tree that sits on the coffee table in front of them. I wonder if there's another, real tree somewhere in the house, or if this it.**

"There's a real one, if you could call it that," Megan quietly said.

**Mrs. Wong reappears. "We have a live tree out in a planter on the deck," she says, as if reading my thoughts. "The ornaments are made of birdseed. We'll plant it in the spring."**

"Maybe we can mix it up a bit this year. Get a real pine tree for once," Lily muses.

"**Ah," says my mother, nodding. "An environmentally friendly Christmas." She looks around at the furnishings. "Your home is lovely."**

"**Thank you," Megan's mother replies. She waves a hand carelessly at the room. "Jerry picked everything out. I'm not much for decorating."**

Jerry looks sheepish as everyone turns their heads toward him. "The both of you will learn how to decorate when I come over next month to decorate it," said Clementine, marking a day in her calendar.

**My mother looks surprised to hear this. Decorating is her life.**

**I can tell that she and Mrs. Wong are trying extra hard to be polite. They're getting along again finally, after the big blowup last month. Mrs. Hawthorne asked Mom and Mrs. Wong over to lunch to patch things up. I saw the invitation. It had a quote from Louisa May Alcott on the front: "Birds in their little nests agree." I guess they're trying to be good role models for us girls. My mother still hasn't been back to yoga class, though.**

"I get my stubbornness from you," commented Cassidy. Clementine just rolled her eyes.

"**That was Phoebe," says Mrs. Wong, glancing at her watch. "She and Emma should be here any minute. They're running a little late." She crosses to a small white speaker set into the wall and presses a button beneath it. "Megan!" she calls into it. "It's time to come join us! Your friends are waiting!"**

**I let out a snort. I am not Megan Wong's friend, and she's not mine.**

"Not yet," chuckled Darcy.

**My mother gives me a warning look.**

"**I'll get the refreshments," says Mrs. Wong, and disappears again.**

**Jess cocks her head, turning her gaze from one side of the room to the other as if measuring it. "It's a dodecagon," she announces finally.**

"**A dodo – what?" I ask.**

"**A dodecagon," she repeats, as if that helps. "Twelve windows, see? Set at angles in nearly a perfect circle."**

"That's right, Jess. The room was what had sealed the deal for me to get this house. 12 had always been my favorite number," Lily said with a smile.

**I stare around the room again. I have absolutely no idea what she's talking about. Of course, that's generally the case with Jessica Delaney. She never talks about regular stuff. I'll bet she doesn't even know who won the Stanley Cup last year.**

Cassidy had turned to her friend to tell her who won the Stanly Cup last year when she saw something strange. Jess was blushing. So Cassidy being Cassidy had to ask the obvious follow – up question in a Cassidy-ish manner.

"Jess, why on earth are you blushing?" Cassidy asked in a loud voice bluntly, causing everyone in the room to look at the two. If it was possible, the blush on Jess's face became redder, as she glared at her friend. Cassidy smiled at her innocently but motioned for her to answer the question.

Jess mumbled something indistinguishable that no else in the room could hear except the four girls sitting next to her. This caused the girls to wear grins that would put jack o' lanterns to shame.

"Jess, I don't think the rest of us caught that. Why were you blushing?" asked Phoebe, looking at the four girls strangely as was the rest of the people in the room.

"When you have a crush on a guy that plays hockey, you kind of end up knowing who won the Cup just in case it becomes a topic of conversation," said Jess, her blush growing darker. Darcy smiled widely at her statement and kissed her hand. The adults smiled at the couple while the younger ones in the group teased them.

**I start gnawing at a hangnail. Unladylike, but necessary. Fortunately, the doorbell rings before my mother can start waving the contract at me again. Emma and her mother are here.**

**Emma makes a beeline for the sofa and plunks herself down next to Jess.**

"**Clementine!" says Mrs. Hawthorne brightly. "We've missed you at yoga."**

**My mother inclines her head regally, like a queen greeting a subject. She's going into full supermodel mode. She can still pull off world – famous "Clementine" when she needs to.**

"Snobbery will get you everywhere," Clementine said, unashamed.

"**Things have been busy," she replies in a dignified tone.**

**Nobody mentions hockey.**

"We can't set off the big bad Clementine Sloane," Lily says, jokingly. Clementine rolls her eyes at that.

**Mrs. Wong comes in with a big platter piled high with lumpy gray cookies. "They're vegan," she says proudly, setting them down on the coffee table. "No eggs or animal fat. And the chips are carob, not chocolate."**

Everyone in the room looked a little green after the description, except for Lily.

"**Yummy," says my mother, her forehead creasing with concern. I can't wait to watch Queen Clementine try and choke down one of those suckers.**

"I'm glad you take joy in my pain, darling daughter," said Clementine, rolling her eyes.

"Anything for you, mommy dear," Cassidy said in the voice of a young toddler.

**Next to decorating and gardening, baking is my mother's favorite activity. Courtney keeps telling her she should start her own TV show.**

"All the times you teased me about it, planted that seed of an idea in my head," Clementine said to Courtney.

**She's probably right. They could call it "At Home with the Queen."**

"Close," chuckled Clementine.

"**Healthy treats are good treats," says Mrs. Hawthorne, but she doesn't look convinced either.**

"No offense Lil, but I don't think anyone except you could force down your health food and like it," Phoebe said. Lily just shrugged her shoulders.

**I see her and Emma exchange a glance, and the corners of Mrs. Hawthorne's lips quirk up as she tries to suppress a smile. Emma's lucky – she and her mom are close.**

Emma and her mother smiled at each other.

**Kind of like my mother and sister are. I know they love me, but it's sort of like they're this little twosome and I don't quite belong. I just don't have that much interest in nail polish and fashion magazines. **_**Any**_** interest, actually.**

"You were like that with dad. I had always felt a little jealous whenever I saw the two of you together," said Courtney.

"Just because we don't have the same interests doesn't mean we're not close, Cass," Clementine said, hugging her three daughters.

**Mrs. Wong looks at her watch again and taps a foot impatiently. "Would you girls please go see if you can pry Megan out of her room? I don't know what's gotten into her tonight."**

**I follow Emma and Jess out of the living room and down an adjoining hall. A long, long hall. It's hard to believe that only three people live in this place.**

"That's one of the downsides to the house," said Jerry.

**I've been in hotels that were smaller.**

"If you ever want to get rid of it, then you have the distinct ability of being able to turn your house into a hotel," Michael snickered.

**I start skating again (push – glide, push – glide), and about a half a mile later we stop in front of a big white door.**

"Why do I get the feeling that it wasn't really half a mile?" said Becca's dad.

"**Megan?" Emma calls, tapping softly.**

**Pushing past her, I shove the door open and walk in. Like the rest of the house, Megan Wong's bedroom is huge. It juts out into the yard the same way the living room does. It's kind of like being in a tree house.**

"That's what I loved about the room," said Megan.

**I wouldn't mind a room like this, actually.**

"Could I get that in writing?" Clementine said sitting up in her seat, who had seen Megan's room and was shocked that her daughter would want something so girly.

**Well, except for the furniture.**

"Never mind," she said, falling back on to the sofa in disappointment.

**Everything is pink and lacy, and the bed has one of those thingies draped over the top of it like a tent. I can't remember what they're called. No, wait a sec. A canopy. That's it. My mother would be delirious if she saw this room.**

"I was when I saw the room," said Clementine, with a spaced out look on her face as she thought of the room.

**It's like her dream girl's bedroom. Me? I would lie down on the floor and croak before I'd let her decorate my room like this.**

"Don't exaggerate Cassidy," Clementine said, rolling her eyes.

**She wanted to get a canopy for my bed when I was little and I said absolutely not, no way. Too girly – girl. Give me a poster of Wayne Gretzky or Sarah Parsons and Team USA any day of the week.**

"**Hi," says Emma.**

**Megan whips around, startled. She must not have heard us come in. She shoves something hastily into her desk drawer. A notebook, maybe. "What do you want?" she demands.**

"**Um, your mom says it's time to come join us," says Emma.**

"**C'mon, Wong, you're holding up the show," I add. "The faster we get started, the faster we can get out of here." The Bruins match should be starting any second. With any luck, I can catch the second half.**

**Megan looks at me like I've got fleas. "It's your fault we're here in the first place," she says coldly. "If your mother hadn't changed her mind about dropping out of this stupid club, we wouldn't have to be here tonight at all."**

"**Just hurry up, will you?" I turn around to leave and nearly trip over Emma. She's kneeling on the carpet, smiling. In front of her is a plastic box of some kind she's pulled out from underneath Megan's bed.**

"**I didn't know you still had these!" she says, holding up a doll.**

**Megan flies across the room in about two seconds. She kicks the box back out of sight. "Don't touch my stuff!"**

"I don't think that I wanted anybody to know that I still cared," Megan sighed.

**Emma recoils, like a goalie who's just had the stuffing knocked out of him.**

"Again with the hockey comparisons, Sloane," commented Stewart.

"There's only so many that we can handle in one chapter," Darcy chimed in.

The sentence had barely finished when the two got pillows thrown at their faces. Darcy and Stewart glared at Cassidy, who smiled at them and didn't bother trying to act innocent. Calliope quickly started to read before an all – out pillow fight could begin.

"**Sorry," she whispers.**

**We head back to the living room in silence and take our seats. Mrs. Hawthorne – who has only taken a single bite out of her "healthy treat,"**

Phoebe shuddered at the reminder of the "healthy treat."

**I notice – calls the meeting to order.**

"**Did everybody get the reading done?" she asks.**

**Emma and Jess both nod. Megan shrugs. I don't say a word.**

"**Cassidy and I read this month's assignment together," says my mother, putting her arm around my shoulders and giving me a squeeze. "It was fun, wasn't it, sweetie?"**

_**About as much fun as the time I got my nose broken with a hockey stick**_**, I almost say, but I remember Dr. Weisman just in time and nod.**

"I actually did have fun later, Mom," said Cassidy.

"**Shall we talk about chapter 13?" says Mrs. Hawthorne. "That's one of my favorites."**

**As everyone opens their books, Megan leans toward me and takes a cookie from the plate. "Your mommy had to read the book to you?" she says in a mocking whisper. "Becca's right – you are a dumb jock."**

**I kick her in the shin. Hard.**

"That left a bruise, Sloane," Megan said, glaring at Cassidy. "I had to wear pants for a week because of you." Cassidy just shrugged her shoulders.

**Mrs. Hawthorne glances over at us sharply. "Cassidy, why don't you begin by telling us what happens?"**

"Had to at least attempt to stop the two of you from kicking each other to death," shrugged Phoebe.

**I stare at the chapter heading and try to remember what the heck "Castles in the Air" was about. "Uh, it's a hot day, and Laurie finds the girls out in the woods knitting socks for the soldiers and stuff, and they get to talking about their dreams."**

"**What kinds of dreams?" coaxes Mrs. Hawthorne.**

"**Um, what they want to be when they grow up – stuff like that."**

"**Does anyone remember what those dreams are?"**

**Emma raises her hand. Of course. It's like she thinks we're at school or something.**

"Ever notice how my mother treats the discussions like we are in school," commented Emma.

"**Yes, Emma?" says her mother.**

"**They all want to be rich and famous except Beth, who wants to stay home and take care of her mother and father."**

**Mrs. Hawthorne nods. "That's right. Let's read a little bit together, shall we?"**

**We dutifully read aloud the part where Laurie talks about being a famous musician when he grows up, and Meg tells them she wants a big house and lots of money, and Jo says she wants to be a famous author, and Amy "the best artist in the whole world."**

"**How about you girls?" Mrs. Hawthorne asks us. "What are your dreams in life – your 'castles in the air'?"**

**We all sit in embarrassed silence. Finally, Mrs. Wong looks over at me. "How about you, Cassidy?" she prods. "What do you want to do with your life?"**

"**I want to play pro hockey," I mumble.**

"It's not all I want to do anymore," said Cassidy.

**My mother bites her lip. Mrs. Wong and Mrs. Hawthorne nod thoughtfully, careful not to look at her. Hockey is still a sore spot.**

Darcy and Stewart would have opened their mouths to say something if Cassidy hadn't silenced them with a glare and by holding up a pillow.

"**Anyone else?" asks Mrs. Wong.**

"**I'd like to be a writer," Emma admits shyly.**

Emma's parents smile proudly at their daughter.

**The mothers pounce on this safe response with relief.**

"**That's fabulous, Emma!" enthuses Mrs. Wong. "Writers can do so much good in the world. Maybe you'll grow up to be an investigative journalist and expose corruption."**

**Emma does not look terribly enthusiastic about this possibility.**

"Not my type of thing Aunt Lily," said Emma. "I don't think I'm the right person to write exposes."

"**You picked a good town to grow up in, if you want to be a writer," says my mother, smiling at her. "Just think, our very own little Louisa!"**

"**I want to be a vet," says Jess out of the blue. Since she normally doesn't say anything at all at our meetings, the mothers instantly start gushing.**

"**Wow! That's great, honey!" says Mrs. Wong.**

"**Fabulous!" agrees my mother.**

"**You'd make an amazing veterinarian, Jess," adds Mrs. Hawthorne, beaming. "And you're getting a head start, too, by taking care of all the animals on your farm."**

"Couldn't be more proud of you Jess," says Shannon.

"**Goat Girl," whispers Megan, and I kick her in the shin again. This time, she kicks me back.**

"At least you were able to return the favor Megs. Everybody thought I got that bruise from hockey practice," said Cassidy, who was glaring at Megan. Megan rolled her eyes at the comment.

**Mrs. Hawthorne sees us and lifts an eyebrow. "How about you Megan?" she asks. "Do you have any 'castles in the air'?"**

**Megan shrugs.**

"**Megan's going to be an environmental lawyer, aren't you, Megan?" Mrs. Wong prompts. She turns to look at the other mothers. "She'll go to MIT, like her dad and I did, and then we though perhaps on to Harvard for law school."**

"Sorry," Lily whispers to Megan.

**Megan leans forward in her chair. She gazes intently at her mother with her dark, almond – shaped eyes. "I am not going to be an environmental lawyer," she says fiercely. "Ever. That's your 'castle in the air,' Mom. Not mine. I'm going to be a fashion designer."**

"And an incredibly great one, at that," said Gigi.

**This announcement is greeted with stunned silence. If Megan had said she wanted to be a rodeo cowboy we couldn't have been more surprised.**

"Interesting career choice," Calliope chuckled.

"**You're too young to know what you want, sweetie," her mother says dismissively.**

"**But, Mrs. Wong, Megan's really good at sewing," blurts Emma. "She used to make the best clothes for our Barbies. She still has them, under her bed."**

"**I remember those clothes!" says Mrs. Hawthorne. "They were wonderful."**

"**Fashion is frivolous," Mrs. Wong objects.**

"**Not necessarily," says my mother, tapping the toe of her red leather boot against the coffee table. "I know a lot of fashion designers, and many of them are tremendously talented artists. It can be a great career."**

"Thanks for sticking up for me," said Megan gratefully, looking at Emma, Phoebe, and Clementine.

"**Not for my daughter," says Mrs. Wong, who is beginning to look a little steamed. "Fashion enslaves women. And really, ladies, after last month, I'm surprised I should have to remind you not to interfere in a family affair."**

"Ouch, Lil," commented Shannon, Phoebe, Calliope, and Clementine at the same time. Lilly blushed.

**My mother and Mrs. Hawthorne exchange a guilty glance.**

"I felt like a hypocrite," Clementine mumbled.

**I look over at Mrs. Wong and Megan. Mrs. Wong is wearing yoga pants and an "Imagine Whirled Peas" sweatshirt. Megan's outfit probably came straight off the pages of some teen magazine. I'll bet they fight about this stuff all the time – just like my mom and me, only the other way around.**

"Pretty much," said Lily and Megan at the same time.

"**I don't necessarily think that all fashion is slavery," my mother says, her voice sounding clipped and tight. "It can be a form of self – expression, you know."**

"**Stay out of this, Clementine," Mrs. Wong warns.**

"**Shall we get back to **_**Little Women**_**?" Mrs. Hawthorne suggests, and gently steers the conversation away from touchy subjects like fashion and hockey. We talk about the book some more and scrape our teeth on Mrs. Wong's cookies, which are hard as rocks and taste just as bad as they look.**

**Finally, it's time for the handouts. I glance at my watch. Good. If we hurry, I can still catch the last period of the game.**

**Fun Facts About Louisa**

**Louisa kept a "mood pillow" shaped like a sausage on the parlor sofa. When she was in a good mood, she stood it on end. When she wasn't, she placed it flat, and her family gave her some space.**

**The Alcott family was very poor, and before she became a successful writer Louisa helped support her parents and sisters by working as a teacher, seamstress, governess, and household servant, and as a volunteer nurse during the Civil War.**

**In addition to books for young people, Louisa also wrote for adults. Sometimes she wrote under pseudonyms, including Flora Fairfield, Tribulation Periwinkle, and A.M. Barnard, under which alias she published what she called "blood and thunder" thrillers.**

"**How come we don't read one of those?" I ask. "'Blood and thunder' sounds a lot better than stupid **_**Little Women**_**."**

**My mother shoots me a look. Then she brightens. "You know," she says, "this discussion tonight has given me an idea."**

_**Uh-oh**_**, I automatically think. I know from experience that there's no telling what will happen when my mother gets an idea.**

"I don't blame you," said Emma, Jess, Megan, and Becca. The mothers just rolled their eyes at their daughters.

"**Why don't we have a **_**Little Women**_** Christmas party?" she continues. "We could dress up in nineteenth – century fashions." She glances slyly at Mrs. Wong. "Fashion is an important part of history, after all. We can each pick the character we're most like and come dressed as her."**

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" asked Lily, shaking her head at her friend.

"I might have," said Clementine, smiling innocently.

"**What a marvelous idea!" cries Mrs. Hawthorne. "It sounds like great fun. Don't you think so, Lily?"**

**Mrs. Wong looks like she's trying to find a reason to disapprove, but finally she gives a reluctant nod. "I suppose so," she says.**

"**I'm too old to play dress up," I tell them, trying to nip the plan in the bud. No way am I going to a party dressed as dumb Amy or Beth or any one of the sisters. Not even Jo. No way.**

**But it's too late. Mrs. Hawthorne and Mrs. Wong and my mother ignore me. The idea has caught fire.**

"**We can serve food from the book!" says my mother.**

"**The Alcotts were vegetarians," Mrs. Wong reminds us.**

"**But the March family wasn't," my mother counters.**

**Mrs. Hawthorne comes up with a compromise.**

"Had to or we would have to go through another month of awkwardness and ignoring each other," said Phoebe, who glared at the sheepish looking Lily and Clementine.

"**How about we make apple slump? That was one of the Alcotts' favorite desserts, plus it was Louisa's nickname for Orchard House."**

"**Why the heck did she call it that?" I ask.**

"**Because she had to spend so much money repairing it all the time," Mrs. Hawthorne tells me.**

**Mrs. Wong likes this idea. "I'll bring organic apples," she says happily. "Their food would have been organic back then. **_**Historically**_**, I mean," she adds, with a significant glance at my mother.**

The rest of the room groaned while Lily and Clementine rolled their eyes at everyone else.

**This is getting worse by the minute. I check my watch. Too late – the hockey game is over.**

"I can't believe you're worrying about a hockey game when we're planning a party," Clementine said, shaking her head.

**I heave a sigh. Maybe it's not too late for me to weasel out of the party, though.**

"**We can have it at my house," my mother offers, looking around the living room. I know exactly what she's thinking. She's thinking that the Wongs and their dumb birdseed tree don't measure up in the holiday cheer department. Our house, on the other hand, looked like something out of a magazine by the day after Thanksgiving. It always does. "At Home with the Queen: The Holiday Special!"**

"I'd have to agree," said Lily.

**My mother pulls her calendar out of her purse and scans it, frowning. "How about the Sunday afternoon before Christmas? Does that work for everyone? Plan to bring your families, of course."**

**Jess's face gets all anxious – looking, the way it does whenever anyone mentions her family. She probably feels the same way about her missing mother as I do about my dad. She has no reason to complain, though – at least her mom is still alive.**

Cassidy ignored the eyes on her and just continued to look at the book. Calliope got the silent message and continued her reading before anyone could comment.

**I stand up. "I just have one thing to say," I announce. Six pairs of eyes look at me expectantly. "No one, and I mean no one" – I glare at my mother – "is going to get me into a dress."**

"That's what you think," Darcy said with an evil grin.

**My mother smiles. She draws herself up into her regal supermodel pose. She reaches into her purse again, removes Dr. Weisman's contract, and waves it at me.**

**My first hockey game is a week away. I slump back down in the white leather chair. Resistance is futile.**

"It truly is," said Stewart in a mock sympathetic tone. Darcy and Stewart high – fived each other laughing.

Soon one "Ow" followed by a second one were heard throughout the room. Cassidy went back to her seat after slapping the boys on the head. The two glared at her while she just smirked. The rest of the room laughed at their antics.

"**Fine."**

**My mother inclines her head, looking pleased.**

**Final Score: Queen Clementine – 1, Cassidy – 0.**

"Ha, I'm winning," Clementine yelled at her daughter.

"For now mother, only for now," said Cassidy.

"That's it," said Calliope "Who's reading next?"

"I will," said Gigi, taking the book from Calliope.


	7. Emma

Gigi began to read.

**Emma**

"**I wish it was Christmas or New Year's all the time; wouldn't it be fun?"**

"Sometimes, but I think it would get tiring after a while," said Emma.

**I love snow days.**

"Only you Emma," scoffed Cassidy. "The only good snow day is one where we get to miss school."

**It's not fair when they happen during winter break, though. A real snow day means you get to miss school.**

"See, your book self agrees with me," Cassidy said pointedly. Emma just looked at her friend with a mixture of exasperation and amusement.

**The storm started last night right before bedtime, the first flakes drifting down like tiny stars from the dark sky.**

"Hawthorne, do you really need a metaphor in every chapter?" Cassidy whined.

"Cassidy that sentence wasn't a metaphor, it was actually a simile because -," replied Emma, but was interrupted by her friend before she could finish.

"Bah! Same difference," said Cassidy, waving her hand in a 'Who cares?" fashion.

**It wasn't supposed to be a storm at all – only flurries were predicted. But something must have happened during the night, because when I woke up this morning and looked out my bedroom window our split – rail fence had vanished, and so had the mailbox and the road and all the shrubs in the front yard.**

"**Blizzard Breakfast!" my dad shouted up the stairs.**

"Pity there can't be a blizzard every night. Your pancakes are really delicious," Phoebe said to her husband before she gave him a soft kiss on his cheek.

**Dad always makes pancakes on snow days, and afterward Darcy and I always put on our snow gear and go outside. This morning we made snow angels and built a fort under the rhododendrons, just like we used to when we were little. Dad even came out and joined us for a snowball fight. He says a good snowstorm brings out the kid in everyone.**

"Can't really argue with that," agreed Stanley, as the rest of the adults nodded their heads.

**The only problem is that today is the day of our Little Women Christmas Party. Mom says that since it's still snowing we'll probably have to cancel, because the snowplows can't keep up and the roads are all blocked.**

"Maybe the snowplows can't," said Michael, with a sly smile on his face.

**I have to admit I'm kind of disappointed. Mom and I baked gingerbread people for everyone and we bought long dresses at the thrift store to wear and everything.**

**Right now we're camped out in the living room, trying to stay warm. The electricity went off about an hour ago, along with the phones, and Dad built a roaring fire and closed off all the doors to keep the heat in. It's snug and peaceful, like Christmas morning, even though it's afternoon and Christmas is still a week away. Our tree is in the corner, and although the lights aren't working it looks pretty. It smells good, too, the satisfying aroma of evergreen mingling with the scent of wood smoke and wet wool from our mittens and hats sizzling themselves dry on the fireplace screen. My father is stretched out on the sofa reading a book about Thoreau that he's supposed to review, and my mom is wrapped in a quilt on the window seat rereading **_**Persuasion**_** (a Jane Austen novel, of course). Darcy and I are in our pajamas sprawled out on the hearth, playing Monopoly.**

**My mother's cell phone rings, and we all jump.**

"**Hello?" she says. "Yes, Clementine. Yes, I agree. There's really no other choice under the circumstances. Such a shame. Do you think we can reschedule for next week? It's such a fun idea, and I'm sure the girls are all really looking forward to it. I know Emma is."**

**She hangs up, and almost immediately the phone rings again. This time it's Mrs. Wong.**

"**Yes, Lily, I just got the news too," my mother says. "But we're going to try and reschedule. Clementine's calling the Delaneys right now. Are you staying warm enough out there? Oh, you do? Really? Wow, that's great."**

"**What's great?" asks my father when she hangs up.**

"**The Wongs have a generator, so everything's up and running."**

"**Figures," says my dad, a twinge of envy in his voice. He's been wanting a generator for a while now, but they're expensive, and besides, my mom always tells him, a generator is one of those things you only need once in a blue moon.**

"Not to be biased Nick, but I think we all agree with Phoebe," said Shannon, as the rest of the women in the room agreed with her.

"**But when the moon is blue, you sure wish you had one," Dad always counters.**

"Most ridiculous argument I've ever heard," muttered Phoebe.

"But not to be biased Phoebe, but Nick makes a very good point," said Michael, smirking at his wife. Shannon just glared at him for throwing her words right back at her.

**Everything's quiet again for a while, then, just as Darcy puts a hotel on Park Place, the cell phone rings a third time. Heavens, I'm the belle of the ball this afternoon!" says my mother. I can't tell who's on the other end of the line this time. "Uh-huh," she keeps repeating, then, "Nope, I won't breathe a word. Promise."**

"**Who was that?" I ask, curious.**

"**You'll see," she says loftily, which is mom-code for "I know something you don't and I'm not going to tell you."**

All of the mothers in the room snickered at the thought of a mom – code while all the kids in the room groaned at the idea most likely forming in their heads.

"**Come on, Mom," I wheedle.**

**She shakes her head and leaves the room, smiling to herself. I can hear her in the kitchen, rustling around. Something is definitely up.**

"**What's going on?" I ask my father.**

"**Haven't the foggiest," he replies, without looking up from his book. "Like your mother says, you'll see."**

**Parents can be so annoying sometimes.**

"We took lessons on how to be annoying to your child," Clementine said with a straight face.

**A few minutes later, just as I'm about to collect double rent from Darcy for landing on Pennsylvania Railroad,**

"I was on my way to winning too," grumbled Emma.

**my mother pokes her head back in the room. "You all need to get warm clothes on," she announces. "We'll be leaving soon."**

"**Leaving? For where?" I ask**

"**The party, of course."**

"**But I thought it was cancelled."**

**My mother shakes her head. "Plans have changed – it's back on."**

"**How are we supposed to get there?" Darcy complains. He flaps his arms. "Fly?"**

"It felt like we were flying," sighed Clementine.

**Mom smiles that smug smile again. "You'll see."**

**My father peers at her over the top of his book. "Let me guess," he says. "Jerry Wong rented a snowplow. No, wait – he **_**bought**_** a snowplow."**

"Guilty," Jerry snickered.

"**Nicholas Hawthorne, behave yourself!" scolds my mother, but her eyes are twinkling so I can tell she's not really angry.**

"Phoebe, as my friend I thought you would stick up for me," said Jerry, laying a hand over his heart. "You wound me!" he continued dramatically.

"**Jerry earned every cent of his money, and he has the right to spend it any way he wants to. Besides, don't forget all the charities they support. The Wongs are doing a great deal of good in this world."**

"Ah, never mind then," Jerry said, straightening up, with his voice going back to normal. Phoebe rolled her eyes and looked heavenward for patience.

**Dad gets up off the sofa and kisses her cheek penitently. "You're right, as always," he says. "But for the record, I was just joking."**

"As long as you know that I'm _always_ right," Phoebe said smugly.

**Mom swats him with a pair of mittens, which she then passes to me. Put your warmest things on, okay? And make it snappy!"**

**By now I'm practically boiling over with curiosity. What has Mom got up her sleeve? Maybe Dad's right, maybe the Wongs really did buy a snowplow.**

"I'll have to sell it soon. I don't have room in the garage," said Jerry, mentally making a note.

**And then in the distance, I hear something. A faint sound that is definitely not a snowplow. I run to the front of the window and look out. Lowell Road is still deserted. I hear the sound again. Bells? I frown, puzzled. A minute later my eyes nearly pop out of my head and the puzzle is solved when I spot Led and Zep, the Delaney's big Belgian draft horses, over the tops of the snowdrifts.**

"**It's a sleigh!" I cry in delight, running to the front door and throwing it open. "The Delaneys brought their sleigh!"**

"**Are you serious?" says Darcy, rushing to join me.**

"I was surprised because I haven't seen the sleigh in years," Darcy said.

"We wanted to bring it out for a special occasion and this seemed like the perfect time," said Jess.

**Mom and Dad are right behind him. We all wave, and the Delaneys wave back.**

**None of us have ever ridden in a sleigh before. We watch, entranced as Mr. Delaney pulls up across the street. The sleigh bells on the horses' harnesses really do jingle, just like in the Christmas carols.**

"**All aboard!" shouts Mr. Delaney.**

**We don't need to be asked twice. My brother grabs the duffel bag with our costumes in it and I grab the container with the gingerbread people and we skid down the front steps and the front walk and wade across the road through the snow. Jess and her brothers are in the back of the sleigh, huddled under mounds of blankets and sleeping bags. Jess scoots over and flips back a corner of one of the blankets.**

"**Can we all fit?" asks my mother.**

"**It'll be close quarters, but you'll stay warm," Mr. Delaney tells her.**

"**When we get to the Wongs', maybe you can put Ryan on your lap, Jess, okay? And Darcy, I thought you might like to ride up here with me."**

"**No fair, Dad! I want to ride with you!" protests Dylan. Or maybe it's Ryan – even after five years I have a hard time telling them apart.**

"They would be insulted yet pleased to hear you say that," Shannon chuckled.

"Where are the twins anyway Shannon?" asked Clementine.

"They're with their grandparents in California," replied Michael. "We thought they deserved a trip before they started middle school."

"**You and your brother can take turns on the way home," Mr. Delaney promises. He waits until we're all seated, then flaps the reins. Led and Zep heave their way forward through the snow.**

**Slowly we pick up on speed, and as the horses break into a slow trot and we begin to glide I suddenly feel giddy. I must be smiling because my mother is smiling back at me, and so are Dad and Jess. In fact, we're all smiling. Riding a sleigh is magical. There's just the wind and the snow and the steady muffled clop of the horses' hooves and the hiss of the sleigh's runners and the rhythmic jangling of bells. It's like flying, only better.**

"**Now, this is the way to travel," says my mother dreamily, snuggling close to my dad. "I fell like a character out of one of Jane Austen's books."**

**My dad puts his arm around her. "Or **_**Little Women**_**," he adds, winking at me and Jess.**

**As we whiz along Lowell Road toward Strawberry Hill, I wonder if this is what the olden days felt like. If so, the olden days were a lot more fun than I imagined.**

**We reach the Wongs' driveway and there's Mr. Wong, sitting atop a small red snowplow. He waves happily at us and toots the horn.**

"**See?" my father whispers to my mother. "I told you so."**

**My mother giggles, which is not a sound she usually makes. She sounds – well, like a girl. **

"Really Emma," her mother said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I had no idea that I sounded like a girl. I don't know how this could have happened."

"You know she's annoyed when Phoebe reverts to sarcasm," said Nick in a stage – whisper.

**My dad is right. Snowstorms do bring out the kid in everyone.**

"**Perfect timing!" shouts Mr. Wong. "I just finished clearing a path – I'll go and get Lily and Megan!"**

**A couple of minutes later the Wongs appear and we all shove over to make room for them.**

"**Hey, Megs," says my brother, who is one of the few people who can call Megan by her kindergarten nickname and get away with it.**

"Not anymore," smirked Cassidy.

"**Hey," she replies, giving him a quick smile. For a brief second I see a flash of the old Megan, the pre-Fab Four Megan. The Megan I still miss and wish I had back for a friend. Just as quickly, though, the smile disappears, leaving in its place the Megan who isn't interested in being my friend. The Megan who let Becca Chadwick read my journal out loud.**

"She's gone now," smiled Megan from her seat between Emma and Becca.

**As the sleigh pulls forward again, Megan avoids looking at me and Jess and fiddles with her cell phone instead. I figure she's probably text messaging the Fab Four, telling them what a stupid idea this is,**

"No, I was wishing them a Merry Christmas," Megan said.

**but for once I don't let it bother me. I pull the blankets up under my chin and watch the snow drift down over the fields and trees and stone walls that give way to houses as we draw closer to town.**

"**A real blast from the past you have here, Michael!" Mr. Wong calls to Mr. Delaney, who turns around in the driver's seat and smiles at us.**

"**I thought you'd like it," he replies. "Historically accurate, too. For the party, I mean. This sleigh's over a hundred years old." He waggles his eyebrows at his boys. "Almost as old as I am."**

**The twins snicker.**

**As we approach town, people spot us and actually come out their houses to wave and cheer us on. I guess it's not every day you see a sleigh driving through the streets of Concord, Massachusetts.**

"**Look, dear, there's Calliope Chadwick," says my father, pointing to the doorway of a huge white colonial-style house.**

**My mother grits her teeth in a smile. "Merry Christmas!" she calls.**

**Mrs. Chadwick starts to wave, then see that it's us. She scowls and goes back inside, slamming the door.**

"**Ah, the Christmas spirit," says my father. "Such a beautiful thing."**

**The grown-ups all laugh.**

As did everyone in the room.

"**I'll bet this is just what everything looked like when the Alcotts lived here," Jess whispers.**

**I nod. "Pretty, isn't it?"**

**Mr. Delaney starts to hum "Jingle Bells," and my mom quickly picks up the tune. Soon, we're all singing – all except for Megan, who's still busy with her cell phone.**

**Snow drifts down, but more slowly now. The blizzard is finally dying out. We sing all the way down Monument Street, past houses lit by candlelight and past the Colonial Inn and past the festive storefronts of Main Street. We're still singing as we pull up in front of the front of the Sloanes' house. Their front door flies open and Cassidy comes shooting out like a cannonball. Her mother and sister are right behind her.**

"**No fair!" Cassidy shouts. "I want a ride!"**

"**Hop in," Mr. Delaney tells her as the rest of us climb out. "I'll take you for a spin around the block."**

"**Go ahead inside and get warm," says Mrs. Sloane as she steps into the sleigh. "Well, sort of warm. The electricity's still out, but I managed to get a fire going in the living room."**

**Mr. Delaney passes a bulging backpack down to Darcy. "I brought our old camp stove," he tells Cassidy's mother. "Figured we could make cocoa this way. And there's fresh goat's milk in case you're out of the regular stuff."**

"**Goat Girl," Megan whispers to Jess, low enough so that the grown – ups can't hear.**

"**Shut up, Megan," I whisper back. I take Jess's mittened hand and squeeze it.**

"**Oh, and there are hot dogs and buns, and marshmallows, too," Mr. Delaney adds. "And the apples that Lily wanted."**

"**Perfect! Thank you, Michael," Mrs. Sloane says, and there's a chorus of "thank – you's" from the rest of the grown – ups. Mr. Delaney flaps the reins. The sleigh glides away.**

**Inside, the living room had been transformed.**

"**Wow!" says Jess, looking around in wonder. "It looks just like the movie. **_**Little Women**_**, I mean."**

"**No kidding," I reply. Everything looks old – fashioned and perfect. The mantel is fringed with boughs of evergreen, and so is the top of the piano and all the end tables. Mrs. Sloane has woven clusters of red holly berries and lengths of plaid ribbon through them, and everywhere I look, there are candles. The room is practically glowing.**

"**Clementine sure has a knack for decorating," says my mother.**

"Thank you Jess, Emma, Phoebe," said Clementine. "It was one of my favorite decorating projects to work on."

**My dad and Darcy get right to work on beefing up the fire, and Mr. Wong heads for the back porch with the camp stove. Meanwhile, Jess and I help Mrs. Wong and my mother set out the food. Ryan and Dylan raid the gingerbread cookies the minute our backs are turned, then scamper off with their booty to explore the house. We can hear their footsteps running up and down the stairs, and their shouts of glee when they discover the turret.**

**By the time Mr. Delaney gets back with the Sloanes, the cocoa is ready.**

"**Everything looks gorgeous, Clementine," says my mother, handing her a mug of the steaming fragrant drink. "Especially your tree. Are the ornaments antique?"**

"**They are," Mrs. Sloane replies. "I've collected them for years. David" – she hesitates slightly, then continues – "my husband used to give me one every year. His job took him all over the world, and he was always finding beautiful things."**

"**He sounds like a wonderful man," says my mother quietly, patting her shoulder.**

**Mrs. Wong appears carrying a platter of hot dog buns. "Thank goodness they're whole wheat," she says, eyeing them askance. "You don't by any chance have tofu dogs, do you?"**

**Mrs. Sloane and my mother exchange a glance. "Sorry, we're fresh out," says Mrs. Sloane.**

Phoebe and Clementine were snickering in unison while their friend grumbled at them about being ganged up on.

"**What do you say we all get into our costumes?" my mother suggests, distracting Mrs. Wong from the menu's failings.**

**Jess and Megan and I follow Cassidy upstairs with our things. I look around her room curiously. Her bookcases are stuffed not with books but with sports trophies, and the walls are covered with posters of hockey and baseball players.**

"**This one's signed," she says proudly, pointing to a picture of someone named Wayne Gretzky. "My dad gave it to me for my birthday two years ago."**

"**Big deal," says Megan. "Who cares about a stupid hockey player."**

"Wrong thing to say Megan," smirked Becca.

"**Wayne Gretzky isn't a stupid hockey player!" Cassidy cries hotly. "He's called The Great One, and he's the most famous player in the history of the sport!"**

**Megan shrugs, unimpressed.**

"Now it would be different if you had a signed poster of a world – famous fashion designer," Megan said.

"I wouldn't have that kind of a poster on the wall even if you paid me," replied Cassidy, shaking her head.

**We change out of our warm things and pull our dresses on. Jess and Cassidy and I help each other with our zippers. Megan manages on her own. Cassidy leaves her sweatpants and sneakers on underneath her long dress, but the rest of us put on tights and fancier shoes.**

"**May I have your attention, please!" Mrs. Sloane says dramatically as we troop back down to the living room. She looks gorgeous, of course, in a floor-length red-and-green-plaid taffeta dress that makes her look like a life – sized Christmas ornament.**

"I mean that in the best way possible Aunt C," Emma said hurriedly, as Clementine raised an eyebrow and turned her glance on Emma.

"How can saying a person looks like a life – sized Christmas ornament be taken in the best way possible?" asked Darcy.

"Shut up Darcy!" replied Emma.

Stewart opened his mouth to say something but his girlfriend turned her eyes on him. "Not helping, Stewart!" she said.

Stewart mock – frowned. "How do you know I wasn't going to say anything bad?" he asked.

"Because I know you," replied Emma, sighing. "Unfortunately."

"Hey," Stewart shouted as the rest of the room laughed at the exchange.

**My parents and Megan's parents and Mr. Delaney and Darcy and Courtney and the twins all turn around to see what's going on. "I'd like to present our own little women!"**

**Our families break into applause as the four of us straggle rather anticlimactically into the living room. Ryan and Dylan run around the room in excitement, hitting each other with sofa pillows.**

"**Boys!" scolds Mr. Delaney. "Knock it off!"**

"**Line up in front of the fireplace," Mrs. Sloane tells us, and we slouch together into a stiff group. Her camera flashes and everyone applauds again. **

"**Now," says my mother, whose long, faded thrift store calico looks like a relic from **_**Little House on the Prairie**_**, "why don't you tell us who you are?"**

**We look at each other, embarrassed, then stare at our feet.**

"**Come on," prods Mrs. Wong, Megan, you go first."**

**Megan shoots her mother a resentful glance. "I'm Amy," she mumbles.**

"**Ah, the artist," says my mother, nodding sagely. "Of course. Excellent choice. How about you, Jess?"**

**Jess's voice is so low we can hardly hear her. "I'm Beth," she replies softly.**

"**The animal lover!" says Mrs. Sloane.**

"**Goat Girl," whispers Megan.**

"**And the musician, too," adds my mother. "Very appropriate."**

"**How about you, Emma?" asks Mrs. Wong. "Who are you?"**

"**Jo," I tell her. "Because I want to be a writer."**

**My father beams at me. "Like father, like daughter," he says proudly.**

**Mrs. Sloane, who is standing next to him, frowns. "I thought you'd choose Meg," she says.**

**I shake my head. "Nope," I tell her. "I'm Jo."**

"**But Cassidy is Jo," she protests. "We need a Meg!"**

**Everyone looks over at Cassidy, who folds her arms defiantly across her chest. "Mom wouldn't let me be Laurie," she says.**

"**Who's Laurie?" asks my brother. "I thought there were only four sisters."**

"**Laurie is a boy," my mother replies.**

"**A boy named Laurie?" my brother sounds incredulous. "How lame is that?"**

"**Actually he's Theodore Laurence," says my mother. "The March girls call him Laurie for short."**

"**Except girls back then wouldn't wear this," says Megan, her hand darting out. She hoists up the hem of Cassidy's dress, revealing the sweatpants and sneakers underneath. Everybody laughs. Cassidy twitches her dress away angrily.**

"Courtney bet that I would be able to get through the entire night without Mom knowing. But because of a certain someone," said Cassidy, sending Megan a pointed glance, "I lost and had to sit quietly while she did my nails."

"Sorry Cassidy," Megan said, sending a sheepish glance towards her friend.

"Don't be sorry Megs I owe you quite a bit for what you pulled then because there is no way I'll be able to get Cassidy Anne Sloane to let me do her nails again," said Courtney, sending a wink towards to Megan and a glare to her younger sister. "Anytime you want to collect feel free to let me know."

"Well," drawled Megan, as she smirked at the red – haired girl across from her. Cassidy shifted in her seat and narrowed her eyes. What was Wong planning?

Megan turned her head to Courtney. "I always wanted to give our resident tomboy over here a makeover. Any blackmail I could borrow, maybe, possibly use?"

Courtney smirked. "We'll talk after we finish reading the book," she said as Cassidy shifted her glare between her friend and her older sister.

"Be afraid," said Darcy and Stewart in unison. "Be very afraid."

"**Actually," says my mother, "that's exactly what Jo **_**would**_** so. She was a tomboy, remember? Just like Louisa."**

"**So we don't have a Meg?" asks Mrs. Sloane, still looking dismayed.**

"Auntie C, I'm hurt! I didn't know that I don't exist in your eyes," Megan said dramatically.

Clementine rolled her eyes and glanced at Lily and raised a questioning eyebrow. Lily shook her head. "As you can see, she gets it from him," Lily said, pointing to her husband, who was looking at her innocently.

"**It's okay if we have two Jo's, Clementine," says my mother soothingly. "Really, it's okay."**

"**How about if I'm half Jo, half Meg?" I volunteer. It is Christmas, after all.**

**Mrs. Sloane brightens. "Oh, good!" she says, relieved. "Now we can take the other picture."**

**She arranges us in a pose that looks like the Jessie Wilcox Smith illustration on the cover of our journals. Jess sits on a chair, and I stand behind her between Megan and Cassidy. "Perfect!" says Mrs. Sloane, and her camera flashes again.**

"**How about you three visions of loveliness?" asks my father. "Who are you supposed to be?"**

**My mother and Mrs. Wong and Mrs. Sloane all look at each other.**

"**I, uh-"**

"**Are you-"**

"**Well, I-"**

**They all speak at once, then stop, flustered. My mother turns to my father. "I think we all came dressed as Marmee," she tells him, laughing.**

**He laughs too. "Naturally!" The perfect mother. Which you all are, of course."**

**I look them over. Maybe my dad is right, maybe there's a little bit of Marmee in all of them. But I can't help thinking that my own mother is the most Marmee-like. Beside me, Jess shifts uncomfortably. Mr. Delaney pokes busily at the fire. I wonder if they're thinking about Mrs. Delaney. Would she have dressed as Marmee too?**

"I'm positive I would have Emma," said Shannon, with a small smile.

"**Now, boys," says Mrs. Sloane to my brother and the Delaney twins, "how about you start roasting hot dogs for us?"**

**While they're busy doing that, we spread an old quilt out in front of the fireplace and get to work making the apple slump. In a flash Mrs. Sloane has us peeling apples, chopping nuts, and mixing ingredients. Courtney brings an old – fashioned kettle from the kitchen, which my dad carefully hangs from an iron hinge on the fireplace. He swings it into position over the fire. Megan and Cassidy add in water, sugar, and cinnamon.**

"**Pop the apples in when they're ready," Mrs. Sloane instructs the grown – ups. She turns to Jess and me. "How are you coming along with the dough?"**

"**Almost done," I tell her, as Jess and I sift together the rest of the dry ingredients. "You can add the milk, Jess."**

**She carefully pours it in, and I stir everything together. "Ready!"**

**The apple slices are boiling now in the sugar water, and Mrs. Sloane drops spoonfuls of dough on top of them. She puts a cover on the kettle and swings it back over the fire. "Should be ready in half an hour," she tells us.**

"**Everybody ready for hot dogs?" asks Darcy, placing a heaping platter of them in the middle of the quilt.**

"**What a feast!" says Mr. Wong, digging in.**

"**Even if it's not historically accurate," jokes my father.**

"**Or organic," adds Mrs. Wong regretfully. "Well, except for the apple slump."**

**Mr. Delaney wipes his hands on his jeans. He clears his throat. "Um, Shannon wanted me to tell you that she wishes she could be here today. Since she wasn't able to, she sent along some presents for everyone."**

"**That's so sweet of her!" says my mother. She puts her arm around Jess and gives her a squeeze. "You have such a wonderful mother."**

**Jess's eyes fill with tears. Poor thing. Her mother is staying in New York for the holidays. She sent train tickets for Jess and her brothers, and they'll spend Christmas at Half Moon Farm and then travel down to New York for New Year's. It's not the same, though. Jess was really hoping that her mother would have come home by now.**

Shannon winced at the implication. She should have been done "finding herself."

**Mr. Delaney reaches into his backpack and distributes some packages. There are books about historical Concord for all the fathers, and bags of penny candy for the older kids and for the twins. "And these are for the members of the Mother – Daughter Book Club," he says, handing us each a flat book with a bookmark stuck inside.**

All of those who were there at the party said in semi – unison "Thank you Shannon/Aunt Shannon/Mom!"

"You're welcome everyone," Shannon grinned.

"_**Little Women**_** paper dolls?" cries Cassidy in disgust. "What am I supposed to do with these?"**

"**Cassidy!" says her mother sharply. "Manners, please."**

**Cassidy heaves a dramatic sigh. She turns to Mr. Delaney. "Please tell Mrs. Delaney that the paper dolls are great!" she chirps. "Just what I wanted!"**

"I have a hard time believing that one, Cassidy dear," said Gigi.

**Mrs. Sloane shakes her head. "Hopeless," she says wearily. "Just hopeless."**

"With the amount of times you say that, I'm beginning to think that will end up being my name," Cassidy said to her mother. "You know Hopeless Anne Sloane had a ring to it, don't you think?"

Clementine groaned and held her head in her hands while her husband patted her on the back and did his best to hold in his amusement.

**I pull out my bookmark. On it is a quote from Louisa May Alcott: "I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship." Somehow I don't think she's talking about sailing. She's talking about life. I read the quote again. I like it.**

**Across the quilt from me, Megan is inspecting the paper dolls. "They didn't get these dresses right," she says.**

"**How do you know that?" her mother asks.**

"**Oh, some book about fashion history I found at the library. That Mrs. Hawthorne helped me find, I mean."**

**Mrs. Wong frowns, and my mother looks sheepish.**

"I forgot to tell you, but I really enjoyed that book you found for me Aunt Phoebe," said Megan, smiling at Emma's mom.

"You're welcome Megs," she replied.

**Megan turns her attention back to the paper dolls. I watch her for a minute, then suddenly I get a flash of inspiration.**

"**Mrs. Sloane, do you have any colored pencils and paper we could use?" I ask.**

"**Sure, honey," she replies, pointing to a desk across the room. "Third drawer down."**

**I retrieve them and put them in front of Megan, who is still scrutinizing the book. "If the dresses in there are wrong," I say hesitantly, "why don't you draw some that are right?"**

**Megan glances up at me through a wing of dark hair that's partially obscuring her face. I can't read her expression.**

"That was the general idea," said Megan.

**She looks down again. Her fingers wander over to the pencils almost automatically. Without a word she picks one up, and in a flash her hand is moving swiftly over the paper and she's completely absorbed, just the way she used to be when she was designing clothes for our Barbies.**

**Hope flutters inside me as I watch her draw. It's the old Megan, the pre-Fab Four Megan. I haven't seen her like this since the last time we played at her old condo. Back in fourth grade, before that awful summer when she decided Becca and Ashley and Jen were cooler than me and we stopped being friends.**

**Megan finishes and hands me a piece of paper. I look down at the dress that she's sketched.**

"**Wow," I tell her. "This is amazing."**

**Megan smiles. A real Megan smile, not a fake wannabe one. I smile back.**

"I was remembering when you used to say that when we were younger, making those Barbie outfits," Megan smiled at her friend/

"**It's okay if you like that sort of thing," adds Cassidy, craning over my shoulder to see. Her mother gives her a sharp look and mouths a word. "Contact," maybe, or "contract"?**

"Yup, it was contract," said Cassidy.

**Cassidy sighs. "I mean, yeah, cool. Good job, Megan."**

"Thanks, anyways Cassidy," said Megan.

"**I love it!" I tell Megan, and I mean it.**

"I'm glad you did," Megan grinned.

**I grab the scissors and cut it out. The pink gown that she's drawn fits my paper doll perfectly. Over on the sofa, Mrs. Wong watches us, a thoughtful look on her face.**

**Courtney comes over to take a peek. She whistles. "Mom, you've got to see this!" she says, whisking the paper doll away from me and passing it to her mother.**

**Mrs. Sloane's eyes widen as she examines the pink dress. "Megan, they're right – the dress is gorgeous," she says. "You have real talent. When you get older, if you're still interested, there are fashion designers I'd love to introduce you to."**

**Megan smiles again – another real, honest – to – goodness Megan smile. "I could make accessories for them, too," she offers shyly. The flutter of hope inside me is now waving like a flag. Maybe the real Megan is still in there somewhere, like a chick trapped inside its shell, not sure how to peck its way out.**

Megan shakes her head. "It wasn't that really. It was more like trying to find a way where I can be half in my shell and half out of it. And by the looks of things, I think I found my perfect balance."

**Maybe there's a way we could still be friends.**

Emma inwardly groaned at what her mother was about to do that made the whole process take more time than necessary.

**And then my mother ruins everything.**

"Sorry about that Emma," Phoebe said, sending a sheepish glance to her daughter.

"**Say, Megan," she says, "I heard Mrs. Adams talking at the PTA meeting right before school got out, and she's needing help with costumes for the play. I know you're busy learning your part, but maybe you'd be willing to help out in the design department?" She smiles over at Jess. "Our Jess – I mean our Belle – is going to need a spectacular ballgown for the final scene. How about a Wong original?"**

**At the mention of the play, Megan's smile disappears. She shoots Jess a swift glance, sharp as a needle**

"That was quite appropriate," mumbled Gigi, before she continued to read.

**and puts her pencil down.**

**With a sinking heart I realize that I'm not getting my old friend back for Christmas. No way.**

"You are. You're just getting her a few months after Christmas," said Becca.

**The Christmas truce is over.**

"That's the end. Who wants to read next?" asked Gigi, closing the book.

"I will," replied Courtney, taking the book from her.

**A/N: Hello everyone. I hope everyone has been having a great summer. I know this probably won't be what you want to hear. But I have good news and I have bad news. Bad news first. I have been sorta kinda grounded from fanfiction until I get really, really good grades at school. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but my book has been taken away from me and I can't get to it. So, until then this story will be put on hold. Hopefully, I'll be able to continue this next month. Keep your fingers crossed, knock on wood and all that.**

**Now for the good news, which my MDBC fans might not like. I'll be able to continue writing all of my other original stories, one – shots and the like when I get a chance to use the library at school. So I haven't completely stopped working. That's everything, I think. Again, I hope to continue this story soon.**

**A huge thanks to all of my readers who I owe a ton too. Without you all, I think I would have stopped writing this a long time ago. You all are amazing people and make it all worthwhile! **

**Love from,**

**ree**


	8. Jess - 2

**A/N: I won't keep you all from reading this long awaited chapter but once you're done I request that you read the author's note at the bottom. Pretty please with a cherry on top! Now, on with the show!**

* * *

><p>Courtney began to read the chapter.<p>

**Jess**

"**What do girls do who haven't any mothers to help them through their troubles?"**

"I had Dad and my friends to help me," said Jess.

"**So were you this nervous on your first opening night?"**

**My mother doesn't answer. She never does. How could she? She's just an image on the TV screen.**

"You could have called me Jess. I would have loved to talk with you before your opening night," Shannon said.

"How could I, Mom? You called earlier that day in the morning because you knew that you wouldn't answer the phone later," Jess replied.

**It's not that we don't talk on the phone – we do. She's really good about calling me and my brothers every few days, but still, it's not the same as having her here with us at home. Watching her on **_**HeartBeats**_** is the best I can do for now. It feels good to see her face and hear her voice, and for a few minutes I can pretend that she's in the same room with me.**

**Onscreen, Mom is batting her eyes at the actor who plays her true love, Judd Chance.**

Michael gags a little as he remembers how he had to watch this granite statue kiss his wife. Noticing her husband's distress Shannon said, "You know, whenever the director made us kiss onscreen, the only person I was thinking about was you," as she gave her husband a soft kiss.

Michael smiled at her as he smugly thought, _Take that Judd Chance!_

**He looks like he's been chiseled out of granite. People in real life never look like people on TV. There's certainly nobody in Concord who looks like Judd Chance.**

_Thank God_, thought Michael.

_That's too bad_, thought Megan and Becca.

**Not that I've seen, anyway. He must be from California.**

"Not everyone from Cali looks like a movie star Jess," said an annoyed Cassidy.

Emma chuckled. "She's right Jess. Exhibit A is sitting right in front of you."

It took Cassidy a moment to realize that she was the one sitting in front of Jess. "Hey!" she said indignantly as she watched her supposed friends laugh at her expense."I'll get you back for that, Hawthorne!" Cassidy promised with a pout on her face.

"Bring it Sloane!" Emma replied with a challenging smirk.

"**I'm so afraid I'm going to panic when the curtain goes up," I tell her. "Did you ever feel that way?"**

**My mother is staring rapturously into Judd's impossibly handsome face.**

"**Larissa," he murmurs. "My love."**

"**Oh, my darling!" she replies. "Whatever shall we do?"**

Cassidy pretended to throw up and mouthed 'gag me' to the four other girls, who attempted to hide their snickers behind their hands.

**Sugar, who is sitting on the bed beside me, pricks up her ears and wags her tail when she hears Mom's voice.**

"**Sorry, girl," I tell her, turning the volume down. No need to listen to this drivel.**

**I bite into an apple. "I don't know what you and Judd are going to do, but I'm worried I might faint or something," I continue. "I really wish you could be here tonight."**

**My mother was supposed to come home to Concord this weekend to see the play. But then **_**HeartBeats**_** got nominated for some big award – which is hard to believe, because it's really, truly the most ridiculous show imaginable**

"All soap operas are ridiculous, honey. Your mother's show just happens to be the best at being the most ridiculous," Michael said, as his wife playfully shoved him.

– **and the awards ceremony is this weekend and the whole cast is supposed to attend so she couldn't get away.**

**She and Dad got into a big argument over it on the phone,**

Shannon sighed. "You weren't supposed to hear that Jess."

**whichI wasn't supposed to hear but how could I help it?**

"It's called walking away, Jess. It's what you do when you don't want to listen in on private conversations," Becca said teasingly, trying to get her mind off of what was coming up next.

"Like you have never eavesdropped on a conversation Becca," replied Jess.

**Dad was yelling at her that she was selfish and from what I could gather she was yelling back at him that this was a big opportunity for her and that he was being the selfish one.**

The whole room became silent as everyone gave Shannon looks of incredulity.

However, Shannon was too busy to notice as she kept trying to get her daughter to make eye – contact with her daughter, who kept staring out of the window with a hard look on her face.

After a moment of silence, Courtney continued the reading.

**On my dresser is a huge bouquet of flowers. Mom sent them after the argument. They arrived while I was at school, along with a note apologizing that she wasn't able to be here for the play. She said she hoped I'd understand, and she sent me another train ticket, too, for spring break in New York. To make it up to me.**

Jess snorted at her thoughts in the book. _Like flowers and a train ticket is supposed to make up for missing one of the most important nights of my life_, she thought bitterly.

"Jess, honey, please look at me. What's wrong?" Shannon asked with a desperate edge to her tone.

"You're not seriously asking that question," said Jess, who finally turned to look at her mother. "Do you not remember that conversation? You called dad the selfish one because he wanted _you_ to be there for _me_. News flash Mom: you were the one who was being selfish. You were the one who _chose_ to go to the awards show instead of coming down to see the play, you know, the one _your daughter_ starred in," Jess finished, with an undercurrent of anger in her voice.

"Jess, believe me I wanted to go. I couldn't get out of not going…" started Shannon.

"That's a lie and you know it," Jess said, cutting off her mother. "We watched awards shows when we I was younger. There were tons of actors and actresses who didn't show up to collect an award for whatever reason. You wouldn't have been fired if you didn't show up for the award ceremony. Face it, you could have gotten out of going, you just didn't want to try," Jess said quietly in a hurt voice.

The entire room heard her but no one moved a muscle. Jess alternated between staring off into space and glaring at her lap, while her mother had silent tears running down her face.

"Courtney," said Michael, "perhaps you should keep reading."

Courtney nodded and began from where she left off.

**I take another bite of apple. I'm trying not to care that Mom can't come, but I can't help it. I do care. I really want her here with me.**

"No one can blame you for wanting that Jess," said Clementine, darting her eyes to Shannon's for a second and then turning back to Jess.

**By now, Mom and her TV boyfriend are in a passionate clinch. In addition to stupid dialogue, there's a lot of kissing on soap operas. Even though I know it's just acting, it's weird to see Mom kissing somebody besides Dad. **

"I just close my eyes and look the other way, sweetheart," said Michael.

"That's what I do too, Dad," said Jess, who gave a soft smile to her father.

**I'm glad I don't have to kiss anybody in **_**Beauty and the Beast**_**. It's hard enough having to waltz around the stage with Zach Norton with everybody watching.**

"I'm glad you didn't kiss him either," Darcy said, pulling Jess closer into his side.

Jess gave a quick kiss on the lips before she pulled away, with a blush on her cheeks.

"**So here's the thing," I say to my mother. "What if I'm terrible? What if everybody laughs when I open my mouth to sing? I'll just die if that happens, I know it."**

Becca snorted. "They would have to be insane if they laughed when they heard you sing," she said trying to help her friend cheer up. Jess rolled her eyes but smiled, so Becca considered that a mission accomplished.

**Mom doesn't reply, of course. I look longingly at the phone. There's no point trying to call her. She's at the salon right now getting ready for the awards ceremony. I know this because she told me so when we talked briefly this morning, before school. She called to wish me luck – "to break a leg," as they say in show business. I made her promise she'd call me again later, after her awards ceremony, no matter how late it was, so I could tell her all about opening night.**

"I kept my promise that night Jess," Shannon said quietly.

**The phone rings. My heart leaps. My mother read my thoughts!**

**But it's just Emma.**

"Oh, so I'm _just_ Emma now, Jess?" Emma said with a pout. "Fine! I see how it is," she cried, hiding her face behind her hands.

"Emma pretty pleasedon't get mad at me. I promise that I didn't mean it in a bad way," Jess hurried to explain. "I'm really, really, _really_ sorry!"

"Gotcha!" Emma said as she moved her hands away from her face. Her lips were curled into a smirk as she watched her friend's expressions go from surprise, to laughter, and then to annoyed.

"I hate you," Jess grumbled at her friend, without meaning the words.

Emma gave a little snort. "No offense Jess, but I think I'll live," she said, rolling her eyes.

"**So are you ready for tonight?" she asks me.**

"**Ready to throw up," I tell her.**

**She laughs. "Jess, you're gonna be great. I've been to nearly every rehearsal. Trust me."**

"Emma, that didn't help. At all," said Jess.

Emma shrugged her shoulders. "Eh. I tried."

**Emma ended up volunteering to be assistant director. That means she's in charge of props, and making sure everything's where it should be backstage, and that all the actors get onstage when they're supposed to.**

"**My mom says to tell your dad we're on our way to get the pizzas, and that he should drop you off here at four thirty," she continues.**

"**Okay."**

**We're having an opening night party at the Hawthornes' tonight, before the show. I'll probably be too nervous to eat, even though we're going to have an early dinner since Megan and I have to be at school by six to get into our costumes and warm up.**

**I groan and flop onto my back on the bed. "What have I gotten myself into, mom?" I ask the TV screen.**

**My mother looks straight at the camera and smiles. I sit up. "It's not funny! I'm serious! I can't go through with this!"**

"Yes, you can. I wouldn't have encouraged you to be in the play if I didn't know you could do it, Jess," her mother said.

Jess wouldn't admit it right now (because of a combination of pride and stubbornness), but her mother was the one who gave her the final push to audition for the play. She gave a small nod to her mom before tuning in back to the reading.

**But **_**Heartbeats**_** is over, and the screen goes black. I wait to see the credits before I turn off the TV. I always like to see my mother's name.**

"It made us proud to see your name in the credits," Michael said as his daughter nodded her head in agreement. Shannon smiled at her husband and daughter, who had supported her dream.

**There it is: Shannon O'Halloran as Larissa LaRue. My mother is using her maiden name as her stage name, just like she did years ago when she and Dad were first married. It's hard to imagine my parents living in New York City, but they did.**

"It was difficult to adjust at first, but I liked it after a while. But I still prefer Concord over New York any day," said Michael.

Shannon shrugged. "I wouldn't be able to pick one over the other. I'm a city girl at heart, but I loved Half Moon Farm from my very first visit," Shannon commented.

**Mom was an actress way back then, before Dad inherited the farm. A good actress, too,**

"So, I assume that was when you weren't working on soap operas?" said Nick.

"Soap operas aren't that bad," Shannon said rolling her eyes.

"I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that they are full of bad dialogue," he started.

"Awful plotlines," continued Jess, remembering some of the more ridiculous ones from _HeartBeats_.

"And not to mention horrendous acting," said Michael. Upon seeing his wife's face, he quickly backtracked. "Except for yours of course, dear," he said with a smile and the puppy – dog eyes that his wife was never able to resist.

Shannon gave him a hard poke in his side before going back to the conversation. "Okay you make good points, but that's why soaps are so addicting to watch. But you assumed correctly Nick. I worked on Broadway when I first became an actress," said Shannon.

**Dad says. Unlike me, who is going to bomb.**

**I shove thoughts of tonight's impending disaster aside and work on homework until it's time to leave. Ryan and Dylan pile into the back seat of the pickup truck, kicking and chopping at each other. Dad is taking them to karate lessons after dropping me at the Hawthornes'. When we get to Emma's house, he leans over and gives me a hug.**

"**I'll see you at school," he says. "Your brothers and I will be sitting with the Hawthornes. Phoebe got us all seats in the front row."**

"**Okay."**

"**You're going to be a beautiful Belle, honey."**

"Thanks again, Dad," Jess smiled as she gave her father a quick hug. "It really helped me."

"You're welcome Jess," he said.

"**Thanks, Dad." I kiss his cheek, then climb out of the truck. "Don't forget to pick up Sundance."**

"It's hard to believe that she now has a kid of her own," said Jess.

**Sundance is my pet goat. She's a little Nubian I raised for a 4-H project last spring, and she started limping a few days ago so we took her to the vet.**

"**Don't worry, I won't." He toots three times on the horn as he drives away, our family's "I love you" code.**

"Your grandparents started it and we continued it," Michael said.

**The Hawthornes' house smells wonderfully of pizza, which I normally adore, but tonight, as I suspected, I can hardly eat a thing. Neither can Megan, I notice, and I almost ask her if she's nervous about opening night too, but I don't. She'll just say something mean like she always does. She's hardly said two words to me since I got picked for the part of Belle.**

"If you think about it, I never really said anything to you in general, so I guess it wasn't that much different than normal," said Megan.

**She's said plenty to everybody else, though. She and Becca have spread the rumor all over school that the only reason I got cast is because my mother left and the drama teacher feels sorry for me.**

"Not possible. Mrs. Adams never really liked me. I believe she thought that I would take her job away from her," Shannon mused.

**Emma says let them talk, just wait until I open my mouth and sing, that'll shut them up.**

"Not many people believed it anyway, so I don't think you had to worry about that," said Becca.

**But what if I open my mouth to sing tonight and nothing at all comes out? Or worse, what if too much comes out? What if I croak like a frog? Or throw up?**

**While I'm picking at my pizza imagining all the horrible fates that await me onstage,**

"You should always eat or drink something before you go on stage, honey. It helps with the nerves," Shannon said soothingly.

**Mr. Hawthorne arrives home from hockey practice with Darcy and Cassidy. The three of them cram in around the dining room table with the rest of us and Darcy and Cassidy proceed to wolf down an entire pizza between the two of them.**

"I don't know how you did it," commented Megan. "And, I don't think I want to know," she said before Darcy and Cassidy could tell her exactly how they managed it.

"**Goodness," says Mrs. Wong, who is nibbling at some brown rice stir-fry thing she brought in a plastic container. "You two must be hungry."**

"**Starved," says Cassidy. She takes a big swig of root beer and belches.**

Clementine was about to scold her youngest daughter when Courtney spoke up.

"Allow me Mom," Courtney said with a mischievous smile. She continued to read

**Her mother looks shocked.**

And then, in a voice not unlike her mother's, she shouts

"**Cassidy Ann!"**

"That was really creepy, Court. You sounded just like her," said Cassidy, as she slowly inched away from her sister while rubbing her ears. "Reached the same volume too."

"It's a talent," said Courtney, who was proud to be a lot like her mother. "Besides, I've always wanted to do that."

**Cassidy grins sheepishly. "Excuse me."**

**Beside me, I notice Megan pull out her cell phone and start text messaging surreptitiously under the table. She sees me watching and glares. I stare back down at my pizza.**

"At least the pizza was nice enough not to glare at you," said Jerry, as he ruffled up his daughter's hair, much to her annoyance.

"**Louisa May would certainly approve of tonight's performance," says Mrs. Hawthorne. "She was quite an actress herself. And a playwright."**

"**Didn't I read someplace that she had a play produced in Boston once?" asks Mr. Hawthorne.**

"**You sure did," Mrs. Hawthorne replies. "And she did a lot of acting, too, both as an adult and while she was growing up. She and her sisters made all their props and costumes, just like the March girls in **_**Little Women**_**. Remember Roderigo's boots?"**

"**Hmmm," muses Mr. Hawthorne. "The ones on display at Orchard House, right?"**

**Mrs. Hawthorne nods. "Louisa designed and sewed them for one of their plays."**

**Across the table from me, a flicker of interest crosses Megan's face.**

"It was about fashion history. There was no way I could not be interested," said Megan.

**Mrs. Sloane looks at the two of us and smiles. "And now we have our two budding actresses right here. You girls are going to be wonderful tonight, I just know it."**

"**Especially Jess," says Emma, beaming at me.**

"Emma, did you know that in polite society it's considered rude to gloat," said Phoebe.

Emma's face became surprised and, in a tone of astonishment with a hint of sarcasm, she said, "Really! Oh my goodness mother, I had absolutely no idea!"

Phoebe stopped gawking at her possibly insane daughter and turned to Clementine. "Make that three budding actresses," she said, as she pointed to Emma.

"**Don't forget Megan," says Mrs. Hawthorne, winking at her. "She's quite the dish."**

**Everybody laughs at her little joke, except Megan, who glares stonily at her pizza.**

"**But Jess is the main course," says Cassidy, mumbling the words through a mouthful of pizza. Mrs. Sloane frowns and shakes her head sternly.**

"Are you shaking your head at her disgusting table manners or at her rudeness, Aunt Clementine?" asked Stewart.

"Both. Definitely both," Clementine answered.

Cassidy scowled. "Nice, Chadwick. Ganging up on me with my own mother. Very nice," she said.

**Cassidy chews vigorously and swallows, then opens her mouth wide to show her mother that it's empty. Mrs. Sloane throws her hands in the air. "I give up," she says, and all the parents laugh.**

"Because we feel like that every day. You're just the one who says it the most often," said Calliope, who patted Clementine's shoulder.

**We talk for a while more, and then it's time to leave. I'm driving with the Sloanes, and as we head for their minivan, my legs feel like lead. I'm very, very glad that I didn't eat much. When we talked on the phone this morning, Mom said everybody feels this way right before a performance, but that once I get out onstage it'll be fine. I find that hard to believe. Impossible, in fact.**

**At school, I follow Mrs. Sloane to a classroom that's been set up for hair and makeup. She volunteered to be in charge of all that.**

"**Why don't you change into your costume for the first scene and then I'll work my magic," she tells me, plugging in a curling iron.**

**I head for the girls' room, and by the time I return she's putting the finishing touches on the Fab Four.**

"**I hate this costume so much," says Mean, examining herself in the mirror. She's wearing a black bodysuit, and she's sandwiched between two huge round pieces of cardboard that have been spray – painted gold. Becca, Ashley, and Jen are dressed the same, except that Becca's cardboard cutouts are in the shape of a cup, and Ashley's and Jen's are a knife and fork.**

"**Nonsense, you girls look greats," Mrs. Sloane tells her. "Just the way royal dishes should look."**

**Megan makes a face at herself in the mirror. Becca, Ashley, and Jen do the same.**

"**Monkey see, monkey do," I mutter.**

"You mean, 'Wannabee see, wannabee do,'" Cassidy smirked.

**Emma pokes her head in the door. "Warm – up in five!" she calls, then disappears again.**

**Mrs. Sloane turns to me. As she starts curling my hair, another head pops in through the doorway. It's Zach Norton.**

"**Is it safe to come in?"**

**Mrs. Sloane nods.**

**He crosses the room and hands me a single red rose. "This is for you," he says shyly. "Good luck tonight. I mean, break a leg."**

"That was a really _sweet_ thing for Zach to do for you Jess," Emma said, with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"Yeah, it was _adorable_," said Megan, who had picked up on the game quickly.

"More like _charming_," Becca said, with a small smile.

The girls watched as the scowl on Darcy's face became more and more pronounced with each comment. Jess covered her smile with her hand and struggled to muffle her laughter as she watched her friends taunt her boyfriend.

"Hawthorne, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you want to say something," Cassidy said with a smirk.

"Sorry to disappoint Sloane, but you are wrong. I'm fine," Darcy said, in a tight voice that contradicted his statement.

"**You, too, Zach," I reply. "Thanks." In the mirror's reflection I can see the Fab Four watching us. Megan looks like she's wishing the floor would open up and swallow me up. Too bad, I think. It's her own dumb fault that Zach is keeping his distance. She shouldn't have let Becca read Emma's poem at the rink.**

"I don't know why I didn't realize that until much later," said Megan.

**Zach tugs on one of my long blonde ringlets. "Nice look."**

"**Thanks," I say again.**

"What is with all these compliments? He's already told you how nice you look already. No need to do it multiple times," Darcy grumbled as he finally caved.

"So are you saying that you wouldn't compliment me multiple times?" Jess asked her boyfriend.

Darcy shook his head. "No. I'm saying that I'm the only one who is allowed to compliment you multiple times," he said as he pulled her close to his side.

Michael cleared his throat just as it looked like his daughter and her boyfriend were about to kiss, making Darcy visibly jump about an inch away from Jess. Michael pointed to himself and his wife when Darcy turned to look at him.

Darcy backtracked on his previous statement and said, "Except for your dad and the rest of your family," he said.

"Now Darcy, you can't leave out little old us," said Emma. The four girls looked up at the guy who was like a big – brother to them with innocent smiles and puppy – dog eyes.

Darcy gave in and sighed, "Fine, your friends can do it too."

"Aren't you forgetting someone Darce?" Stewart asked with a devious smile on his face.

"I know what you're thinking Stewart and no I will not let the _boyfriends_ of my sister and her friends compliment _my girlfriend_ several times," Darcy emphasized.

Stewart smirked. "Now we know that you are definitely not a mind – reader Darcy. Speaking as the brother of one of Jess's friends, I was thinking that it would be unfair if you were to exclude the families of her friends. I think all of them would be very upset if you were to do that. Especially the fathers," Stewart commented nonchalantly.

Darcy gulped and then threw his hands in the air. "Fine! I give up. Anyone in this room and their families get to praise Jess as much as they want," he caved, as he sat back against the sofa with his lips in a pout.

Jess asked the question that was on her mind since the taunting began. "Do you guys do this to him because it's just too easy?"

"Yes," Cassidy, Emma, Becca, Megan, Stewart, and her dad answered, all of them looking unrepentant.

Jess shook her head at her dad and friends. She turned to look up at her boyfriend who had the beginnings of a scowl on his face and his arms crossed over his chest, looking more like 5 than 17. "If it helps, I feel giddy whenever you sweet-talk me," Jess said, trying to pacify her boyfriend.

"It does actually," said Darcy, bending down to kiss his sweet girl on the forehead.

**As he turns to leave, Calliope Chadwick barges into the room. She grabs Becca by the arm and hauls her over to Mrs. Sloane.**

"**My daughter needs more glitter!" she orders.**

**Mrs. Sloane puts down the curling iron. "I think Becca has enough glitter on her face," she replies.**

"**The audience will hardly be able to see her! I want her to shine!"**

"Becca would shine brighter than a disco ball if I put anymore glitter on her Calliope," said Clementine.

"**Don't forget that Becca only has a supporting role, Calliope," says Mrs. Sloane, smiling sweetly. "Members of the chorus aren't supposed to outshine the star."**

**Becca goes back over to join her friends, and Mrs. Chadwick casts a sour glance at me. Behind her, the door opens and my father comes in. "Star?" she says to Mrs. Sloane. "Ha! From what I've heard, the casting of this play was influenced by favoritism, and I plan to speak to the school board about it. Giving lead roles to hoity–toity girls from some ramshackle farm who think they're something special just because they're in some ridiculous book club, and just because their mothers happen to be acting in some ridiculous soap opera, is no way to run a drama department."**

"And now what do you think Calliope?"" Shannon asked in an ultracalm voice that was eerily similar to her husband's.

Calliope hung her head and looked down at her lap. "You can't imagine how sorry I am for everything that I have said," she said, bringing her eyes up to meet Shannon's and then Jess's. "I made assumptions on the basis of rumors and I did not stop to think."

"Too right," muttered Shannon.

Calliope's lips twitched. "But I hope you can accept my apology, Shannon," she continued.

Shannon thought for a moment and decided that if her husband and daughter could forgive Calliope for what she said, then so should she. Hanging onto a grudge years later didn't help a soul. She sighed internally. _I sometimes wish Jess wasn't so good at hiding her feelings_, she thought wryly. "Apology accepted, Calliope," she said.

"**That ramshackle farm, as you call it, has been around since the Revolutionary War," my father says quietly. Mrs. Chadwick whirls around, surprised to see him there. "In case you've forgotten, Calliope, Paul Revere himself took shelter there with one of my ancestors, while your in-laws were busy turning traitor."**

**The Revolutionary War is a sore spot with Mrs. Chadwick, whose husband's family sided with the British.**

"That's code for: Don't bring it up every time the two of you are within hearing distance of each other," Jess said, chastising her sheepish father and Aunt Calliope.

"**And from what I've heard," my father continues in that ultracalm voice he uses when he's furious, "your daughter got just the role she deserved. I hear she's pretty good at **_**dishing**_** out unkindness."**

"Punny, Uncle Michael. Very punny," Becca snorted.

"Thank you Becca, I thought so too," said Michael.

**Mrs. Chadwick's mouth pops open in an angry **_**O**_**. Before she can say anything, Mrs. Sloane slaps something into her hand. "You want glitter?" she says frostily. "Take the glitter. Just remember, though, all that glitters is not gold. And that includes dancing tableware."**

"You tell her Mom," Cassidy cheered.

**Mrs. Chadwick gives a wounded sniff, draws herself up with as much dignity as she can muster, and waddles off. Her attempt at a grand exit is spoiled, however, by her large bottom, which wags behind her like a reproachful buffalo.**

"**Don't pay attention to that old battleax," my father tells me once she's out of earshot.**

Just as Jess and her father open their mouths to apologize, Calliope holds up a hand to stop them. She shakes her head and smiles to show that she understood what they were trying to do. The three then settle back to listen to Courtney.

"**You earned this role fair and square. And besides that, you look like a princess!"**

**I give him a sidelong glance. "Princess Jess of Ramshackle Farm?"**

**Mrs. Sloane laughs. "That's the spirit."**

"**Is Sundance okay?" I ask my father.**

**He nods. "You bet. She's in her crate in the back of the truck."**

"**Who's Sundance?" asks Mrs. Sloane, winding another strand of my hair around the curling iron.**

"**My pet goat," I explain. "She was at the vet's."**

**Across the room, I hear the Fab Four burst into laughter. I don't even have to look at them to know they're talking about me. **_**Goat Girl**_**, they're saying. I feel my face grow hot.**

"Being embarrassed doesn't help anything Jess. You need to be proud that you're our Goat Girl," said Megan.

**My dad gives me a kiss and tells me to break a leg, and then it's time for warm-ups and a pep talk by Mrs. Adams. As we take our places backstage, Emma peeks through the curtains. "It's filling up!" she reports. I pace back and forth, wiping the palms of my hands on my dress and trying in vain to control the wild thudding of my heart.**

**The prelude starts and Emma shoves a book into my hands. I stare at it blankly.**

"**Your prop for the first scene, remember?" she whispers.**

**I try and recall the first scene. I can't. I try and recall my first line – nothing! I grab her arm, panicked.**

"**You're gonna be great," she reassures me, and races off.**

"It was my job to raise the curtain or I would have stayed to help you with your nerves," said Emma.

**The curtain rises and the audience claps enthusiastically when they see our elaborate stage set – the painted wooden houses and storefronts of a small French village. I peer out from the wings and spot my father and my brothers sitting next to Darcy and Emma's parents in the front row, right where they said they'd be. I look around for my mother, just in case maybe she decided to surprise me, but she's nowhere in sight.**

The underlying tension in the room between mother and daughter was brought out again.

"You have no idea how awful it was to know that you were not out there in the audience," Jess said, not wanting to make her mother feel even more upset but she couldn't hold anything back now that she had let it all out.

Shannon was thinking about how it wouldn't have been too hard to come down to Concord from New York to surprise her daughter. She could have seen her baby on stage instead of being at the awards show.

**The first number begins and Mrs. Adams pokes me in the back, my cue for my entrance. I take a deep breath and wander out onstage, pretending to read a book like I'm supposed to. I focus on the music and try to ignore the audience. **_**The stage fright will pass**_**, I tell myself grimly. Mom promised.**

"But I wasn't really putting much stock in your promises," Jess said, looking up at her mother. "For example, you promised that you would come back to Concord after three months. You broke that promise by staying for a whole year. You said that you would come to my performance. And guess who decided to cancel at the last minute," she said, with a cutting edge to her voice. "Forgive me, but at the time I wasn't eager to believe in anything that you promised," Jess said. She stood up and mumbled an excuse before storming out to the Hawthornes' backyard, slamming the door behind her. Pip jumped off of Emma's lap and went through the doggie – door to follow Jess.

Everyone was stunned into silence until Darcy spoke up. "Aunt Shannon, you need to go talk to her."

"I don't think that's a good idea Darcy," Shannon replied faintly. "In case it wasn't obvious enough, I don't rank high on the list of people she wants to see right now."

"Shannon, I think it would be good for both you and Jess to talk to each other. Dancing around the topic will only make things worse," Michael said to his wife.

Shannon sighed and stood up. "I suppose you're right. I'll go talk to her" she said and went through the back – door. Closing the door behind her, Shannon looked around to find her daughter sitting under a tree with Pip in her lap. Jess petted the little dog as she stared off into space, not noticing whenever he slobbered all over hand.

Shannon went to sit in front of her daughter. Jess turned to look at her and looked back down at the dog in her lap. "I have always valued your opinion Mom, even more so once I started performing. So when you didn't come down to see the play, it hurt. A lot. Because I thought that you didn't think it would be anything great so you decided to just not come," Jess finished with a few tears running down her face.

Shannon scooted over to her daughter and gave her a hug, just as she did whenever Jess had fallen down while learning to ride a horse. The two were quiet for a moment before Shannon spoke. "I never meant to hurt you, Jess but that is what I ended up doing anyway. To you, your brothers, and your dad. I was so busy thinking about me and about having the fame that I never got when I was younger that I didn't stop to think about the four of you," she said morosely.

With a great sigh, Shannon continued, "I was proud of you when you didn't complain all the while that I was in New York and I was proud of you when you had the courage to audition for the play. Never doubt that I am not proud of you Jess. I made a very big mistake and I give my word that from now on I will never break another promise to my family and friends. I am really sorry Jess and I hope you could forgive me."

Jess was silent for a while as she pondered it over while looking up at the sky. "It depends," she finally said.

"On what?" he mother asked.

"If you can forgive me for all the shouting and awful things that I said today," said an ashamed Jess.

"Already forgiven and forgotten," Shannon replied, moving to hug her daughter again. The two sat together under the tree and talked for a while until they realized that it was ten o' clock at night. Mother and daughter jumped up, fixed themselves to hide that they were crying, and came back into the room with smiles on their faces. Pip ran back to his place in the middle of the circle of girls on the floor, while Jess and her mom went back to their seats.

"Everything good girls?" Michael asked as he put his arm around his wife.

"Everything's great, dad," Jess replied as her mom nodded her head in agreement.

Everyone in the room was happy that the two had worked this out and could go back to normal now. Courtney continued the chapter.

**Amazingly, astonishingly, she was right. As soon as I open my mouth and begin to sing, suddenly I'm not me anymore, and this isn't the stage at Walden Middle School in Concord, Massachusetts. I've been transported to a village in France, and I am Belle. I have actually become her. Jess – shy, tongue-tied Jess, is someplace far, far away. There's only the music and me and the audience, who is hanging on my every note.**

**I'm soaring.**

"I loved it," said Jess, as she remembered how it felt to be on stage for the first time. "It was exactly like flying and never wanting to come back down."

_**Is this how it is for Mom**_**, a distant part of my mind wonders? Does she feel this way when she's acting too? This alive? Is this why she had to leave Half Moon Farm? To feel this incredible feeling again? But this isn't the time or place for such thoughts and I shove them away, forcing myself to concentrate instead on the action onstage.**

"It was one of the better reasons for going back to acting," Shannon said.

**We're almost through the first act when it happens. Right at the end of a big, rousing number the one where the dishes and furniture from the Beast's castle break into song for Belle. I don't notice that all the dishes aren't there, that a certain cup has disappeared offstage, and I don't notice the commotion a short while later in the wings when the cup returns. I hear a ripple of laughter from the audience and assume it's because of the tableware cancan line. That always gets a laugh.**

**But the ripple becomes a tidal wave and the music grinds to a halt and I turn around to see a goat skitter across the stage.**

"**Sundance?" I whisper, incredulous. "How did you get out of the truck?"**

**My pet's left foreleg is wrapped tightly in a white bandage and she's limping. She spots me and comes trotting over.**

"**Maaaa – aaaa," she bleats.**

**The audience hoots with laughter.**

**Sundance butts her head softly against me. "Maaaa – aaaa," she bleats again, her sweet little voice muffled by the fabric of my long dress. But it can't muffle her fear. She's scared by all the lights and people.**

"You're lucky that nothing worse happened to Sundance, or I don't think I would have ever forgiven you," Jess said to Megan and Becca, who had not stopped to think about the repercussions of letting Sundance out on stage.

"**Goat Girl," calls Megan in a stage whisper, and she and the Fab Four start to laugh. So does the rest of the cast. Mrs. Adams chooses this unfortunate moment to rush onto the stage waving her clipboard, which startles Sundance. Sundance takes off again, and pretty soon all the boys in the cast are chasing her and all the girls are scattering, their squeals blending with my pet's frantic bleats.**

"**Leave her alone!" I cry. "She's scared!"**

"She's not used to being around many people," said Jess. "I wasn't kidding when I said that she was scared. It took me a couple of hours to calm her down once we got home."

**No one can hear me above the pandemonium. No one but Sundance, that is. She tries to dodge a couple of villagers to reach me, but one of them grabs hold of her tail as she darts past and she stumbles and falls.**

"**You're hurting her! **_**Stop it**_**!" I scream.**

"That guy is lucky that I don't remember what he looks like," growled Jess, who was protective of the animals and people that she considered her own.

"**Go, Goat Girl!" cries Becca, and she and the Fab Four break into an impromptu cancan. The audience loves it. No one's paying the least bit of attention to me.**

"Thank god for that," Jess said. "That was the most preferable option just then."

**It's Darcy Hawthorne who saves the day.**

"My knight in shining armor," Jess said softly as she held Darcy's hand.

"Always," Darcy whispered back to her, doing his best to comfort her.

**He jumps up onto the stage from the front row just as Sundance wobbles back up onto her legs and makes another bid for freedom. Standing quietly till she scoots past, he throws his coat over her and whisks her up in his arms.**

**I rush over to them both, sobbing.**

"**It's okay, Jess, it's okay," Darcy assures me. "I've got her – she's safe."**

"You could not imagine how much better I felt after I heard you say that," Jess said, leaning back against Darcy's knees from her spot on the floor.

**Mrs. Adams gestures frantically at Emma and the backstage crew and the curtain comes down, mercifully concealing my humiliation from the flabbergasted audience.**

**And as it does, all I can think is, **_**I'm so glad my mother wasn't here to see this**_**.**

"I was half glad and half not so glad," said Jess.

Courtney closed the book. "That was the end of the chapter."

Nick looked at his watch and said, "How about we read one more chapter and then all of us can head home? We'll be back here tomorrow at about nine in the morning."

The occupants of the room agreed. Stanley took the book from Courtney. "I'll read next," he said.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hey guys! This is a little later from when you expected me to post again but life really got in my way. And it wouldn't move. First it's all the stuff that I needed to get ready for college applying, then regular schoolwork, and then my family. Now some important announcements:  
><strong>

**To Maya who got the right answer for the question that I posted for chapter 4: Congratulations! You get to pick the next day that I update this story! Either leave a review or send me a PM. The only requirement is that the date has to be in December. Note: I realize that I made a mistake earlier and should have told you to put the answer to the question and your date of choice in the review. I will remember that for future use, but for now I request my readers that if you are not the Maya who answered the trivia question then please do not come forward and claim that you are. Everyone has a chance at the trivia question and it would be unfair if you were to steal someone else's prize. Good things happen to those who do good, but bad things happen to those who do bad.  
><strong>

**Will be working a lot on my writing during Thanksgiving Break so you'll hopefully be seeing more of me soon.  
><strong>

**Also tons of prayers and blessings to everyone who got hit by Hurricane Sandy. We are all hoping and praying that things will get better.  
><strong>

****I have been keeping up with review replies so if you sent me a review and I have not replied yet, I'm really sorry.****

**A ton of love to all of the readers and reviewers who have continued to support me! Every single one of you has helped me through the writer's block I had for this chapter and you all make me happy to be a writer. Thank you so much once again!  
><strong>

**That's all for now, so I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you all soon.  
><strong>

**Love from,  
><strong>

**ree  
><strong>


	9. Megan - 2

Stanley started to read the chapter.

**Megan**

"**The storm cleared up below, for Mrs. March came home, and having heard the story, soon brought Amy to a sense of the wrong she had done her sister."**

"I guess that really does make me Amy then," said Megan.

**I still don't get what the big deal is.**

**I mean, it was just a joke, for Pete's sake! You can't tell me they didn't think it was funny – everyone thought it was funny. The whole audience cracked up. And it's not like it ruined the play or anything. Once Darcy and Mr. Delaney put Jess's goat back in the truck, we just started the scene over and everything was fine. But you'd think I was some kind of criminal, the way people have been treating me.**

"Meg, not to be insensitive or anything, but I think you're being a tad overdramatic," her father said.

"Maybe a little," Megan agreed as she grimaced at the thoughts of her younger self.

**I'm grounded for the rest of the month, and Mrs. Adams yanked Becca and me out of the play when she found out we were behind "the goat stunt," as she put it.**

"How did she figure out that it was the two of you?" Stanley asked Becca and Megan.

"She had noticed that we left during the first act, but she had been too stressed by the play to actually pay attention to what we were doing," said Becca. "She managed to figure out it was us later because, in all honesty, we were not really that discreet."

**Zach Norton and the other boys are barely talking to us,**

"I understood why Zach wasn't talking to you but what about the other boys?" Gigi asked.

"I may have suggested to them that if they supported the Fab Four, I would use them as hockey pucks during our next practice," Cassidy said, with a grin and shrug of her shoulders.

"The hockey stick you were holding may have helped get the point across," added Emma. "Pun completely intended," she said with a chuckle.

**and of course Emma and Cassidy are making a point of ignoring us as well. As for Jess – well, Jess just mopes around like she always does, looking all hurt and wounded, She practically cringes every time I walk by, like maybe I'm going to hit her or something.**

"Not really. I was more afraid that you might say something to me because of all the trouble you got in," said Jess.

**It's all so stupid. And so unfair. Becca says everyone's way overreacting, and I agree.**

"**I expect your full cooperation tonight," says my mother.**

**We're on our way to the library. I've been temporarily paroled from house arrest for an emergency session of the Mother-Daughter Book Club. My mother is worried I'm going to get kicked out. I told her that would be just fine with me. It's not as if I ever wanted to be in it in the first place.**

"Did you really feel like that?" her father asked.

Megan sighed. Her dad sometimes knew her better than she knew herself. "No, I didn't."

**Deep down, though, that would be so humiliating. Rejected by the rejects! I can just imagine what Becca would have to say about that.**

"Not sure what I would have said as you were never actually kicked out," said Becca. "But you were right it probably would have been humiliating."

**I slump in my seat and stare glumly out the window. Sometimes it's tiring, always having to worry about what Becca Chadwick will think or say. The one good thing about this stupid book club is that I can be myself. Mostly, anyway.**

Everyone turned their heads to stare at Megan. After a moment, Megan felt the eyes on her and looked up. "What?" she asked.

"You were being yourself in the book club?" asked her mother.

Megan thought it over for a minute and then shook her head. "You're right. Scratch that. I was mostly not myself," she said.

**We pull into the parking lot. We were supposed to meet at the Delaneys,' but at the last minute Mrs. Hawthorne hanged it to the library instead. Neutral territory, I guess. I'm just as glad. I'd rather not share a living room with a bunch of chickens. And I'd just as soon not see another goat as long as I live.**

**The others are already gathered in the conference room. Mrs. Hawthorne is sitting at the head of the table. Emma is to her right, then Jess, and across from them are Cassidy and her mother. There's no sign of Mr. Delaney.**

"**Have a seat, Megan," says Mrs. Hawthorne. Her tone is cool.**

"Sorry Megs," Phoebe said with a sheepish smile. "I just had to determine whether being in the club was something you really wanted or if you were causing all the trouble and lashing out because you were forced to be in the club."

"Understandable Aunt Phoebe," said Megan. "It's okay."

**My mother takes a seat at the far end opposite Mrs. Hawthorne, which means I'm stuck next to Cassidy, facing Jess. Well, facing the top of her head. She's intently inspecting the table, and doesn't look up when I sit down.**

"**As you can see, I asked the others to arrive a little before you," Emma's mother continues. "We were planning to take a vote and see whether we should allow you to remain in the book club, but we got to talking and decided that a vote would be a little premature. We did come to one conclusion, which I'll get to in a minute, but meanwhile there are some things we feel are only fair to discuss with you directly before voting."**

**This is all so embarrassing. It's like I'm on trial or something. And Mrs. Hawthorne sounds so serious! I want to tell her to lighten up, for Pete's sake.**

"Hate to break it to you Megan, but you are on trial," Darcy said.

Megan sighed. "Thank you Darcy, master of the obvious."

"**Megan, do you remember chapter 8 in the book?" asks Mrs. Sloane. "The one called 'Jo Meets Apollyon'?"**

**I can't help it. I take mental notes of her outfit. Black wool pants, gleaming black leather boots, pink sweater (probably cashmere), and a chic silk scarf with a geometric pattern in black, pink, and white. Straight out of **_**Vogue**_** magazine.**

"Is this what happens to you when you're under pressure Wong? You start thinking about clothes?" asked Cassidy incredulously.

"Everyone does strange things when they are under pressure. Mine is that I start to think about fashion and clothing designs," Megan said with a blush.

"**Megan?"**

"**Um, yeah, I guess so. I kind of remember it."**

"**That's the chapter where Amy burns Jo's manuscript," says Emma helpfully.**

"**That's right," says Mrs. Sloane.**

_**So what's your point?**_** I want to say, but one glance at my mother's stony face tells me it's better to keep my mouth shut. Unless I want to be grounded for life.**

"Good that you noticed. With the mood I was in at that moment, you did not want to say anything remotely sarcastic," said her mother.

"**Megan, you did to Jess exactly what Amy did to Jo," says Mrs. Hawthorne. "You destroyed something of great value to her."**

"**I didn't destroy anything!" I say indignantly. "It was just a joke!"**

"**A cruel and hurtful joke," says Mrs. Hawthorne.**

"You may not have destroyed anything physically girls, but you did destroy the memory of Jess' first opening night," Gigi said softly.

"**Kind of like calling someone 'Goat Girl,' adds Cassidy. "You and the Fab Four are always talking about everybody behind their backs."**

"**Like you don't," I retort.**

"**The point is, you destroyed what should have been a happy memory for Jess," Mrs. Hawthorne explains. "Her first opening night, her first big role. And you ruined it."**

Gigi nodded her head. "Exactly right Phoebe."

"**Plus, you scared Sundance!" says Emma.**

**I open my mouth to reply, then close it again. Who cares about a stupid goat? Everyone is looking at me, waiting for me to say something. If they're expecting me to beg for forgiveness or something, they can forget it. No way. It's not my fault that Jess got all upset at a silly practical joke.**

**My mother's expression is completely blank, which means she's either embarrassed or angry, or both. Probably both.**

"**It wasn't even my idea," I mumble. "It was Becca's."**

**Mrs. Hawthorne raises an eyebrow. "Just like it was Becca's idea to read Emma's diary at the ice rink?" she asks. "I was hoping perhaps that incident would have made an impression on you, Megan.**

"It had, but the impression it made kind of came later," Megan said.

**Character is about the choices we make in life, and I'm disappointed that you didn't think more carefully about hurting someone else's feelings, or have the courage to stick up for your friend."**

_**Emma's not my friend**_**, I want to tell her, but then I look at Emma and feel a stab of guilt. We were friends once. We used to have a lot of fun together, back then.**

"I suppose this is the "later" you were referring to Megan?" asked Shannon.

"That would be the one," she replied.

"**Yeah," says Emma. "How would you like it if someone took your fashion design notebook and showed it everybody and made fun of it?"**

**If looks could kill, Emma would be six feet under in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery right now.**

"Emma, Emma, Emma," Darcy said shaking his head. "Have I taught you nothing about using blackmail information? I am so disappointed that the student has yet to surpass the master," he said with a straight and solemn face.

"Sorry Master Darcy," Emma said as she tried (and failed) to make the same solemn face as her brother. "I had not learned the art of keeping my mouth shut yet," she said with a laugh.

"You're lucky that I felt like opening up that day Emma or I wouuld have probably held a grudge against you for saying something about my notebook for a really long time," Megan said.

"With that last sentence and the glare you gave me, I wouldn't be suprised," Emma replied.

**The happy memories that had tiptoed in for a few seconds go flying right out the window. She has no right to bring that up.**

"That was exactly why I said it," Emma said.

Inside Megan's head it clicked. "You said it because we read your joural didn't you?"

"Yeah. It was immature, but at the time it made me feel better," Emma replied.

"Understood. Plus I kind of deserved that," Megan said, nodding her head.

"**You still have a fashion design notebook?" my mother says, looking at me in surprise.**

"**She keeps it in the bottom drawer of her desk," Emma says triumphantly. "Under the paper for her computer printer."**

"Emma, I hope you weren't feeling proud of what you did just then," Phoebe told her daughter.

"Mom, ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies," replied Emma.

"If you recall dear, I didn't ask you a question. I was only hoping out loud," her mother replied.

**Mrs. Hawthorne sighs. "Girls, girls," she says. "Please. Our book club is in peril here. We're a community, and a community only works if it's based on trust and respect. It's the same with friendship."**

"**Friendship?" The word burst out of me unbidden. "What friendship? They're always leaving me out." I look at Emma and Jess and Cassidy accusingly. "You get together and hang out and bake cookies and have sleepovers and I'm never invited."**

"Therapists could learn a lesson from you mothers. The ways in which you succeed in getting these girls to talk is just scary," Michael said.

"**You wouldn't have come even if we had invited you!" counters Emma, which is probably true, but still, it's beside the point. "And maybe if you weren't so mean to everybody all the time, you would have been invited."**

"Tell us how that really makes you feel Ms. Wong," said Stewart, as he imitated the pose of a therapist.

"If had to say Dr. Chadwick, I believe she feels like flipping out," Darcy answered, as he also made the same pose.

Stewart nodded his head. "I believe that would be a fair assessment Dr. Hawthorne. Now let's see what she does."

"Well, if the two of you are done playing doctor, then may I continue reading so we can find out?" Stanley asked the boys.

"Read away good sir," Darcy said as he waved his hand towards Stanley and the book he held in his hands.

**Something inside me snaps. "You're just jealous!" I yell at her. "Ever since my dad struck it rich and we moved out to Strawberry Hill you've been jealous of me. I see the way you look at my cell phone and my clothes and our cars – but it's not my fault you have to wear Nicole Patterson's hand – me – downs!"**

"**Megan!" says my mother sharply. "That's enough!"**

"**But it's true!"**

"It doesn't matter if it is true or not, yelling does not solve any problems. I hope all of you girls have learned this lesson over the last few years," said Calliope, addressing all of the girls as she said this.

"**Look who's talking about being jealous!" Emma yells back. "You were so jealous of Jess's getting the part of Belle in the play that you spread those rumors at school and then you tried to sabotage her opening night. She's a better singer than you and you just can't stand it!"**

"Emma, did we or did we not just go over how yelling doesn't solve anything?" Jess said.

"I don't think my past self has ever learned her lesson Jess," replied Emma.

"**Now, girls," Mrs. Sloane breaks in. "This isn't productive."**

"**I guess what we really want to know at this point, Megan, is whether or not you're even interested in remaining a member of the Mother – Daughter Book Club." The gentleness in Mrs. Hawthorne's voice catches me by surprise, and to my horror and shame I burst into tears.**

"I suppose it is true what they say: you can kill others with kindness," Henry commented, tactfully not mentioning Megan's tears.

**The truth is, she's right. I should have stuck up for Emma that day at the rink. Of course I knew better, but I felt trapped and I didn't know what to do. I didn't want Becca and Ashley and Jen to stop liking me.**

"Ashley and Jen missed you. And haven't you ever heard that if a friendship lasts for 7 years, then it is bound to last a lifetime? Looks like you are stuck with me for a while Megan," Becca said as she smiled at her friend.

**The truth is, I really miss Emma. I miss spending time with her in her pink kitchen, baking cookies and making clothes for our Barbies. I hate myself for being such a coward and I hate it that Emma and Jess and Cassidy shut me out and I hate it that I even care.**

"It is not considered weak to be scared or feel left out Megan," Courtney said after a beat of silence followed the last sentence.

"Nor is it weak to talk to others about what you feel, dear," Gigi told her granddaughter from her chair.

"**I'll take that as a yes," says Mrs. Hawthorne kindly.**

**My mother passes me a tissue.**

**Mrs. Sloane pulls out a sheet of paper out of her book club folder and places it on the conference room table in front of me. "Rules of Conduct" is printed across the top. "We want you to sign these," she says.**

**Mrs. Hawthorne glances around the table. "In fact, I think we all need to sign these. There's no harm in reminding ourselves of the importance of upholding the club rules."**

**We go over the list together, and under my mother's watchful eye I sign my name at the bottom. I pass the piece of paper to Cassidy and she signs too, then passes it on. When everyone's had a chance to sign, Mrs. Hawthorne turns to me again.**

"**As I mentioned earlier this evening, the five of us discussed one other thing before you arrived," she told me. "We all agreed that it's only fair that you find a way to make this up somehow to Jess."**

**I look over at Jess, who hasn't said a single word this entire time. She still won't meet my gaze.**

"**You can start with apologizing," my mother says firmly, fixing me with the evil-witch-mother eye of death.**

"**Uh, sorry, Jess," I mumble.**

"**You can do better than that," my mother prods.**

**I take a deep breath. "I'm sorry about the stupid practical joke, Jess. Really, truly sorry. I hope you'll forgive me. And I hope your goat is okay, too." For good measure, I look over at Emma. "And I'm so sorry about what happened that day at the ice rink, with your journal."**

"So I guess it's smooth sailing from now on now that you girls aren't divided anymore?" Stewart said.

"Don't think so. Where this group of girls, a whole bunch of trouble is obligated to follow," replied Darcy, already forming a plan to get back at Stewart for the previous bet.

"Oh, really? Care to bet on that Darcy?" asked Stewart, eager to get another one up on his girlfriend's brother.

"Whenever you are Stewart. I just hope that you are ready to part with the money I gave you," Darcy said with a smirk.

"I just hope you have more money to give me by the end of this. It would be such a shame if you went broke when we are only halfway through the book," Stewart replied with a grin.

"We'll see about that. Same amount?" Darcy asked.

"Same amount," said Stewart. As the back - and - forth between the boys went on, the rest of the occupants in the room did their best to not laugh at the fact that Stewart was walking right into the trap that Darcy had set for him.

"**That's more like it," says my mother, smiling at me in approval. I smile back.**

"**I have an idea," says Emma. "About how Megan can make it up to Jess, I mean."**

"**Go on," says Mrs. Sloane.**

"**Well, Spring Fling is coming up in a couple of months. The middle school dance. Maybe Megan could design a dress for Jess to wear it."**

"**What a wonderful idea!" says Mrs. Hawthorne.**

"**I'll buy the fabric," my mother announces. I stare at her, shocked.**

"I know what you mean kiddo. I felt the exact same thing when I heard," Megan's dad said as he shook his head in wonderment.

"Nice, Jerry. Real nice," Lily replied sarcastically, yet chuckling at the fact that she could still shock her husband.

**She shrugs and smiles at me again. "It's a worthy cause."**

"**And you can use my sewing machine," offers Mrs. Sloane.**

"**I wasn't planning to go to Spring Fling," Jess murmurs, clearly caught off – guard by the whole idea.**

"But you had fun right?" Shannon asked her daughter.

Jess nodded her head. "Yes. A ton of fun," she said, smiling.

"**Well, you're going now," says Cassidy. "Is it a deal, Megan?"**

**I have to admit that designing a real dress sounds like fun. "Yeah, okay."**

"Your first life - size design is coming to lige and all you can say is 'Yeah, okay,'" said Becca.

"I think I was still in a little shock. I was also busy thinking of design ideas in my head the moment Emma suggested the idea," replied Megan.

**The door opens and Mr. Delaney comes in carrying a paper bag and a stack of paper plates. Close on his heels is Mrs. Chadwick.**

"**Am I too early?" he asks, glancing over at me.**

"Not at all sir. You are just in time to see the monster that is the old Megan Wong be vanquished," said Darcy in the most dramatic tone he could muster.

**Mrs. Hawthorne shakes her head. "Right on time."**

"**Phoebe, I thought the library board made it clear that you weren't to meet here," Becca's mother says.**

**Mrs. Hawthorne regards her calmly. "You certainly did make it clear, Calliope. But I checked with the rest of the board, and they have no problem with it. You're outvoted."**

**Becca's mother looks indignant. She opens her mouth, but before she can say anything Mr. Delaney pulls an apple pie out of the bag and sets it on the table.**

"**What is **_**that**_**?" Mrs. Chadwick cries accusingly.**

"The way you said that Calliope you would have thought that I had brought in ne of my pigs or something," Michael said as he rolled his eyes.

"Sorry Michael. I was just stunned that someone had enough gall to bring food into the library," said Calliope.

"**An apple pie," Mr. Delaney replies. "Fresh out of the oven. Not nearly as good as the pies Shannon makes, I'm afraid, but perhaps it will do for a cold winter's night."**

"Your pies are way better than mine and everyone knows it. You're just fishing for compliments," Shannon said, as she shoved her husband lightly on the shoulder.

**Mrs. Chadwick turns smugly to Mrs. Hawthorne. "You can't wiggle out of this one," she says. "The library has a strict no-food policy, and you know it. You'll have to remove that pie at once."**

"**If you stay and help us eat it, then there won't be any food in the library, will there?" says Mrs. Hawthorne mildly.**

**Becca's mother eyes the pie.**

"**It looks **_**enormously**_** delicious, doesn't it?" says Emma sweetly.**

**Mrs. Hawthorne looks over at her. The corners of her mouth quirk up. "**_**Hugely**_** tasty, I'd say."**

"**My dad is a **_**colossally**_** fabulous cook," adds Jess, the picture of innocence.**

"I bet you practice that face in the mirror to get yourself out of trouble," said Cassidy.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't Cass," Jess said, shrugging her shoulders. "I suppose that you will never know," she said with a smile.

**Cassidy whispers something to her mother, who grins. I grin too. I haven't played the synonym game since fourth grade.**

"And now all of you ladies play that game all of the time," Nick said.

"**Could I please have a **_**jumbo**_**-sized piece?" I say.**

"**Me, too," says Clementine Sloane. "I could eat a **_**horse**_**."**

"**An **_**elephant**_**," adds Cassidy. "Maybe even a **_**mammoth**_**."**

**By now we're all grinning broadly. Mrs. Chadwick doesn't notice.**

"That was the best apple pie I have ever tasted. You could hold the entire circus behind my back and I still wouldn't notice anything if that pie was still in the room," said Calliope.

**She's still focused on the pie.**

"**Well, just a sliver, I suppose," she says finally.**

**Mr. Delaney cuts the pie and Mrs. Hawthorne hands the plates and forks around the table. "Here you go, Megs," she says to me.**

"**Thanks, Mrs. H." It feels good to hear my old nickname, and even better to hear the warmth in Emma's mother's voice.**

"A complete 180 from what it was earlier in the chapter," Phoebe commented.

**My heart feels lighter than it has for weeks.**

Having a heart-to-heart will do that," said Megan.

**My cell phone vibrates in my pocket. It's probably Becca, wanting to know what's going on. I pick up my fork and take a bite of pie and ignore it.**

"That's the end of the chapter," Stanley says as he closes the book. "Who would like to start off the reading tomorrow?"

"I would," Jerry volunteered. "And since I'll be starting off, all of you should come to our house tomorrow."

"Then it's settled. We'll see you tomorrow then. Time to get the little one into her own bed," Clementine said as she picked up the car seat that held a sleeping Chloe.

After the last of the guests had left the Hawthorne house, Darcy, Emma, and their parents went to bed to think on what was to come tomorrow.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Ever wish there were more hours in the day? I do. every single day that I feel like sitting down to write. On a side note, I have finally graduated high school which should leave some more time for writing. Expect something else from me within the next few days but on one of my other stories. One of my many goals for the new school year is to become more focused in all of my activities, including my writing :) Reading the MDBC will be updated next week. Hope all of you enjoyed this chapter and a huge thank you to everyone who continued to review this story even when I wasn't continuously updating. You guys were my only support for writing during this time and I will never forget that. I owe you one! ****Until next week!**

**Lots of love,**

**ree**


	10. Spring - Cassidy

**A/N: Hi everyone! Hope that all of you like this chapter and that you have a safe and happy holiday! Thank you to everyone who liked, favorited, and/or reviewed this story! All of you are too great and I don't deserve it! I won't keep you long but I just want to thank you again for the support and that you have a lovely end of the year! See you soon!**

**Love, ree**

* * *

><p>Everyone arrived at the Wong's house promptly at 8:00 in the morning and settled themselves in the dodecagon living room for another day of reading.<p>

Jerry brought the book from his office and sat down on the sofa. He began to read.

**Spring. "Mothers have need of sharp eyes and discreet tongues when they have girls to manage." - Little Women.**

"Don't we know it?" said Clementine as all the mothers nodded in agreement.

**Cassidy. "Why weren't we all boys, then there wouldn't be any bother..."**

"What kind of chapter would need that beginning?" said Cassidy, distracted by an itch that had appeared on her leg.

**"COM-ETS! COM-ETS! COM-ETS!"**

No longer worried about an itch, Cassidy was all ears with her eyes intent on the book. She paid no attention to everyone else who was smiling at her eagerness to hear about her first championship game for the Concord Comets.

**I can hear them in the stands as I blaze down the ice toward the Minutemen's goal. The Hawthornes, the Wongs, the Delaneys, my sister Courtney, Zach, Ethan, and Dr. Weisman and his wife. Even Becca and Ashley and Jen, though they're mostly here to see the boys, not the game. They're all on their feet, screaming for the team and for me. Only my mother is still in her seat, her hands pressed over her eyes.**

**She's been like this all night. All season, in fact. Hockey still scares her.**

"It doesn't anymore since you do it so often now, but that day felt like a normal game…a normal scary," Clementine said.

**Tonight is the final game of our region's PeeWee Hockey Championships. With two minutes left to go in the third period, the Comets trail the Minutemen by one goal, and we have control of the puck. Correction: I have control of the puck.**

"If this is in your point of view, then don't you remember what happened?" Henry asks out of curiously.

"Everything was just moving really fast and then most of it became a blur. I'm glad that we're reading about this part because it helps me to relive the detailed bits that I don't remember that well," Cassidy said as she replied to Becca's dad.

**With a flick of my wrist I shoot it over to Darcy, our center. Kyle is right wing, and as I make a move toward the goal he swoops in to block a rush by a Minutemen defenseman.**

**"Go, Cassidy! Go, Darcy!" I hear Mr. Hawthorne holler.**

**Kyle's block gives me an opening and I take it. Darcy whips the puck back to me and I slice at it for all I'm worth. The crowd erupts with cheer as the goalie lunges, misses, and the puck flies into the net. Score!**

**A whistle pierces through the noise of the crowd as the Minutemen's coach calls a time - out. We skate over to the Comets bench and grab our water bottles.**

**Darcy gives me a high five. So does Kyle. Coach Danner slaps the back of my helmet. "Way to go, Sloane!" he crows. "Way to tie it up!"**

**Coach has long since gotten over the shock of having a girl on his team. Especially since I've been high scorer for most of the season.**

"Of course not. A monkey could have made it onto the team and Coach Danner wouldn't have minded as long as it won them the championship," Lily muttered.

Cassidy leaned to her left side where Megan was sitting. "Should I feel slightly insulted that your mom is comparing me to a monkey?" she whispered.

"I'm sure if we look hard enough that there is a compliment in there somewhere. But for the time being, yes, feel slightly insulted," Megan replied in a whisper as she failed to hold back her smile.

**Darcy says if I keep this up, I have a good shot at MVP.**

**"A few more plays like that, and we can win this thing," Coach Danner says. His eyes are alights with excitement. "But it's gonna take hustle, it's gonna take drive, and above all it's gonna take the kind of teamwork that just got us that last goal. We can't let our guard down for a second. The Minutemen are going to throw everything they've got at us. They've won the championship the last three years in a row, and they're not going to give it up easily."**

**I take another gulp of water and look up into the stands. If only Dad were here to see this! Even though he isn't, I'm riding a wave of happiness so big right now that nothing can shake me off it. Not even missing him.**

"I think that was the point where thinking of him only made me happy not sad," Cassidy said.

**My mother, who is sitting up straight and looking out at the rink now that nothing's happening, waves at me. So does Dr. Weisman. I wave my stick back at them jubilantly.**

**I glance over at the Minutemen's bench. Their coach is standing a little apart, next to his two defensemen. He points at me, and they nod.**

"Stanley Hall should thank his lucky stars that he has never crossed my path again after that day or there would have been a world of hurt waiting for him," said Clementine as her eyes narrowed.

"Mom, as much as I love how much you scare people when you are in Mama Bear form, I am really glad that you kept it in check that day. It would have killed the moment if you committed a murder on the rink," Cassidy said with a smirk on her face. "Pun not intended."

"What are the two of you talking about? I don't know much about that game other than fact that Cassidy won the Comets the championship," Stanley asked as he was the only one besides Gigi who did not know what happened during the game.

"You'll see in a moment dear. I think you will find it quite amusing," said Clementine, as she remembered her actions that day with a smile.

**This strikes me as a little strange,**

"If you thought it was strange then why didn't you say anything Cass?" Courtney said.

"Can't remember. Could you please continue Uncle Jerry? Maybe it will say," her sister replied.

**but the whistle blows again and we're back on the ice before I can give it another thought.**

"Only you Cassidy would be more worried about a game then your own safety," said Becca.

Cassidy shrugged her shoulders. "I know the pros don't always have clean games but I didn't believe that someone had the guts to board another player in PeeWee hockey," she said. "I thought he was just pointing to me for a general 'watch out for that one' talk."

**Darcy and the Minutemen's center face - off, and then the Minutemen have the puck and they're driving toward the goal and all I'm thinking about is the ice and the moves and the missile that is my body. I'm an arrow, a race car, a rocket, crouching low and flying under the radar. The Minutemen's forward feints left, but I'm on him. I snake my stick in and scoop the puck away and the crowd is on its feet again as I spin around and race back toward the goal.**

**The shouts throb inside my helmet.**

**"COM-ETS! COM-ETS! COM-ETS!"**

**"It's like déjà vu - I'm blazing down the ice again with the goal in reach. Only this goal is the one that will push us over the top and win us the championship. Nothing can stop me.**

**I never see it coming.**

A sharp intake of breath came from Clementine as she held onto her husband's hand. She never saw it coming either, not with her daughter and certainly not with David's car accident. A single tear slid down her cheek as she tried to hold on to the fact that Cassidy was fine and nothing awful had happened.

**Next thing I know, I'm flying through the air. I smash into the boards and bounce off like a yo-yo.**

_Of all the objects that exist in the universe, I choose to compare myself to a yo-yo. That bounce seemed more basketball – ish to me. _Cassidy shook her head at the thought and was about to comment out loud on the subject until she saw the look on her mother's face. Deciding that it would not be wise to speak during this scene, Cassidy chose to keep her opinions about her bouncing to herself.

**As I tumble downward, my skates get caught in my stick and my head jerks back and the last thing I hear before my helmet slams against the ice is the ref screaming, "BOARDING!"**

Clementine closed her eyes. She never showed it again in front of Cassidy but she still continued to worry about what could happen during a game. Even after four years, the fear and the image of Cassidy flying into those boards is always in the back of her mind whenever Cassidy has to go for one of her hockey games.

**Time passes. How much, I don't know. My eyelids flutter open. The bright lights of the arena overhead make me squint. For a moment I have absolutely no idea where I am.**

**"Is she going to be okay?" I hear my mother ask. Her voice is tight with fear.**

**"She'll be fine, Mrs. Sloane," I hear Coach Danner reply. "Doc says she's not concussed."**

**"What happened? I didn't see."**

**"She got boarded by a Minutemen defenseman."**

**"What's that?"**

**"It's an illegal move. He checked her into the boards from behind."**

**"I thought bodychecking wasn't allowed in PeeWee hockey!"**

**Coach Danner sighs. "This is twelve-and-up, Mrs. Sloane. Technically, it's allowed now at this age. But not boarding. Don't worry, that player is out for the rest of the game."**

**"But how -"**

**"I'm not sure, Mrs. Sloane. He told the ref it was his idea, but it's possible that his coach told him to do it. Cassidy's been high scorer all night, and she was playing brilliantly. It was certainly to their team's advantage to take her out."**

Gigi and Stanley were shocked. How anyone could do that to a twelve – year old was beyond them, but the fact that Cassidy came out of a move like that with no injuries was really lucky.

**I sit up, gingerly touching the lump on the back of my head. My mother bursts into tears.**

**"It's okay, Mom," I croak. "I'm okay." I look around, wondering how I got to the bench. I turn to Coach Danner. "Is the game over?"**

**"No, honey," he says."I called a time-out. We moved you here after Doc checked you over. You weren't out long at all."**

**Courtney and the entire Mother - Daughter Book Club are leaning over the railing behind the bench watching us.**

**"Is she okay?" calls Mrs. Hawthorne anxiously.**

**My mother nods and blows her nose.**

**"I've never seen anyone move so fast in my entire life," says Mrs. Wong. "I thought you had wings, Clementine!"**

"I don't even remember how I made it down all those stairs to the bench without falling over," Clementine said with a small laugh.

**Mom laughs shakily. I tug on Coach Danner's jacket. "Coach, right before I went in just then?"**

**"Yes?"**

**"I saw the Minutemen's coach say something to those two skaters." I point to the defenseman sulking in the penalty box, and his teammate nearby. "Then he pointed at me."**

**Coach Danner regards me soberly. "Are you absolutely sure about this, Cassidy?"**

**"Uh - uh."**

**My mother's eyes narrow. "Does that mean what I think it means, Bob?"**

"The Mama Bear comes to the realization that her cub was injured on purpose and awaits confirmation before stalking her prey," said Stewart in his best nature – documentary voice while holding a pretend microphone.

**Coach Danner nods reluctantly. "Looks like it."**

**My mother rises to her feet. She puts her hands on her hips and glares at the opposing team's coach. "What's his name?"**

**"Stan Hall."**

**My mother grabs Coach Danner's bullhorn and holds it up to her mouth. "Coach Stanley Hall, your presence is required at the Comets' bench," she announces. Her voice carries across the arena, the imperious voice of Queen Clementine, and the crowd falls silent. "Immediately," she adds.**

"The Mama Bear receives the name of her prey and with a loud roar commands him to come over and bow before her in fear," Darcy continues in the exact same voice as Stewart.

**With my mother in full supermodel mode, Coach Hall has no choice but to obey. He swaggers over, taking his time.**

"The Hall takes his own sweet time getting to Mama Bear, not understanding that he is in fact the prey and that he should be scared. Very scared," Stewart continued as he dodged a kick to his shin from Cassidy.

"Is it at all possible that one chapter of this book can go by without a stand – up routine from the two of you?" asked Cassidy in exasperation.

"No. Now hush cubling, we are in the middle of recording a very important stand – off and we will tolerate no more interruptions," said Darcy as he gave Stewart a high five.

'Cubling' Cassidy mouthed to Jess. The only explanation Jess could give for her boyfriend's behavior was to mouth 'cuckoo' to her friend and make the gesture on the side of her head while pointing at Darcy with the other hand.

**"What?" he says belligerently.**

**"Did you tell your players to hurt my daughter?" my mother demands. The Mother - Daughter Book Club is lined up along the rail behind her, arms folded across chests, scowling.**

"Mama Bear's allies stand behind her as the bare their teeth and growl at the Hall as they wait for the precise moment to pounce," said Darcy.

"Boys, I don't know what Cassidy is thinking. I find your commentary immensely _entertaining_," Clementine said.

"I would say that it is quite _interesting_," Jerry chimed in.

"I believe that we all found it highly _enjoyable_," Michael said with a small chuckle. Cassidy held her hands in surrender while the guys stuck their tongues out at her like two little kids.

**Coach Hall flicks me a glance. "Of course not," he says.**

**"I saw you," I tell him.**

**"Maybe you don't know what you're talking about."**

**"Maybe she does," my mother snaps. My daughter doesn't lie."**

**"Well maybe your precious **_**daughter**_** should be practicing pretty little leaps and twirls instead of taking up my team's valuable time," he blusters.**

Everyone in the room narrowed their eyes after hearing that sentence. A girl could handle what any boy can, and in some cases, could probably do it better.

**"We've got a championship match to finish here, in case you didn't notice. It's not my fault hockey's a rough game. The rink is no place for a princess."**

"The rink may be no place for a princess, but it is the home turf for a queen of the ice who could wipe the floor with you and your boys! Cassidy I really hope you taught that coward a lesson that he won't forget anytime soon," Stanley said in an angry tone, not unlike the one his wife had that day.

"Thanks Stanley," Cassidy said with a smile. "And don't worry, thanks to Mom and I, Stan Hall now thinks twice before telling a girl to go practice pretty leaps and twirls."

**"Is that so?" says my mother. She's a full head taller than Coach Hall, and she stares down at him, unblinking. His gaze falters after a few seconds, and he looks away. My mother continues, "It seems to me that my 'princess,' as you put it, has been wiping the ice all night with those PeeWee peabrains of yours out there."**

"After continuous insults to her cubling, Mama Bear chooses that moment to strike and makes the Hall loose his delusions of grandeur. The Mama Bear swiftly informs the prey that it is her cubling that is a threat to him and his boys and not the other way around," said Stewart, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

**Coach Danner is watching my mother, fascinated. Queen Clementine has that effect on people.**

"Fascination or fear?" asked Shannon.

Cassidy thought for a moment before replying. "Both," she said.

**"A bit of a coincidence that the game's high scorer is suddenly down and out," she adds. "Don't you think?" Her voice drops to a whisper. "If I ever catch you pulling a trick like that again, I'll wipe the ice with you myself."**

Various whoops of joy and shouts of 'Go Clementine!' could be heard throughout the room. Clementine blushed slightly at all of the attention and praise and motioned to Jerry to continue.

**She turns away. The royal audience is over, and Coach Hall is dismissed. He stands there uncomfortably for a moment, looks over at the Mother - Daughter Book Club - who are all smiling broadly now - clears his throat, and retreats to the Minutemen bench. His swagger has vanished, I note with satisfaction.**

"The mighty Mama Bear brushes off the prey, deeming it unworthy, to turn her attention to the cubling who will defeat him. The cubling and her allies continue to stare at the Hall, smiling at his defeat, before he slinks back to his cave as he prepares for a fight that he knows he cannot win. The end," Darcy ends with a bow. He and Stewart take their bows as everyone in the room, even Cassidy, gives them a round of applause.

"Now, if you two are finished, we shall continue with the reading," said Nick, smiling.

**"I can see where Cassidy gets her spirit," says Coach Danner, looking at my mother admiringly.**

"Show's over, Danner. You can look away now," Stanley mumbles, making his wife giggle.

**"Way to go, Mom," I tell her.**

**She smiles at me, and then her regal composure vanishes and her face crumples and she hugs me to her fiercely. "Oh, sweetheart, for a moment I thought -"**

**"It's okay, Mom, really," I assure her. "I'm fine." I glance up to where Dr. Weisman is sitting in the stands. I know exactly what my mother thought.**

Calliope gives a small gasp and brings her hand over her mouth. "Oh, Clementine did you really think that?"

Clementine nodded her head. "Yes. For a split second Calliope that was the only thing that was running through my head. It wasn't until I got down to the bench and saw for myself that Cassidy was breathing that I could snap out of it."

**She looks over at Coach Danner. "Is she really fine?"**

**"Absolutely. But I'll keep her out for the rest of the game just to be sure, if you'd like."**

**My mother's arms tighten around me. I stiffen. "I'm fine," I tell her, pushing away. "Please, Mom."**

**She looks at me searchingly.**

**"Mom," I ask, struck with sudden inspiration. "What would Jo March do?"**

"And now ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the moment in time where Cassidy Sloane has the raised the bar for the Mother – Daughter Book Club so high that even if we were to grow to be fifty feet tall we still wouldn't reach it," said Emma with a dramatic wave to her hand. "Thanks so much Cass," Emma ends sarcastically.

"Anytime Drama Queen," replied Cassidy with a smirk.

**My mother's mouth drops open. "Cassidy Ann Sloane!" she cries in disbelief. "I can't believe you're quoting **_**Little Women**_**!" She glances up at Mrs. Wong and Mrs. Hawthorne. "Did you hear that? My baby is quoting Louisa May Alcott!"**

**"You go, girl!" calls Emma's mother. Everybody else grins and gives me a thumbs-up.**

**"For Pete's sake," I mumble, embarrassed.**

"No need to feel embarrassed Cassidy. It was a proud moment for all of us in the MDBC," said Phoebe.

"MDBC?" Gigi asked curiously.

"Mother – Daughter Book Club. MDBC is less of a mouthful," Phoebe replied.

**My mother looks down at me and smiles. "Maybe there's hope for you after all," she says. Then she looks over at the penalty box and the smile vanishes. "I'll tell you what Jo March would do. Jo March would get right back out there and kick some Minutemen you-know-what. And she'd be right. I think it's time to show Coach Hall what this princess is really made of."**

"That was a better pep talk than anything I've ever gotten from my coaches. Bar none," said Cassidy as she smiled at her mom.

**I throw my arms around her. "Thanks!"**

**"Your dad would be so proud of you," she whispers into my hair. "I know I am."**

"And that helped me to do what I did next," Cassidy said with an even bigger smile.

**I put my helmet back on and get some quick last-minute advice from Coach Danner and then I skate back out onto the ice. The crowd gives me a standing ovation.**

The room is pin – drop silent with everyone looking at the booking as Jerry continues to read the chapter.

**The ref gives me the puck, blows the whistle, and we're back in the game with thirty seconds to go.**

**I whip the puck over to Kyle, who passes it to Darcy while I deke to the left and skip by the Minutemen's right wing. I zoom past Coach Hall. His face looks like thunder, but there's nothing he can do to stop me now. Darcy passes and I catch the puck and drive toward the goal.**

**The crowd is screaming for me now. "CASS-I-DY! CASS-I-DY! CASS-I-DY!"**

**I smile as I lift the puck, catching it right in the sweet spot on the blade of my stick, just like Dad taught me. I glance up at the stands. My mother is on her feet with the rest of the Mother - Daughter Book Club, and her eyes are wide open this time. She's watching me. She's not afraid anymore.**

The room is tight with anticipation with everyone holding their breath to see what happens next.

**And as I snap the puck and watch it soar straight into the Minutemen's goal, my jubilant heart soars right along with it.**

Cassidy could barely hear the well – done from Gigi over all of the shouting and whooping and congratulations. After going on like this for several minutes, everybody in the room calmed themselves down to sit back in their seats. Jerry held up the book and asked, "Who's next?"

"Don't mind if I do," said Darcy as he caught the book that Megan's dad had tossed to him. "Now who is to be the next victim?"


	11. Emma - 3

"Finally!" Darcy exclaims after he skims the first page of the latest chapter. "I was hoping this would be in the book!"

"What's got you so excited?" said Jess nonchalantly, as she tried to get a look at the page her boyfriend was currently grinning at.

The book snapped shut before she could get a good look. "Nice try, Jess," Darcy said, patting her on the head and earning himself a scowl. "You will have to wait just like everyone else."

"At least say which one of us is going to be your first victim," said Megan.

"I'll give you a hint," he said, pausing for dramatic effect. "It's not Stewart!" he said in an annoying sing-song voice that had all the girls throwing pillows at him. Not even two pillows to the face, courtesy of Cassidy, could stop him from grinning and high-fiving Stewart.

Mr. Hawthorne shook his head with a laugh. "Darcy if you don't start reading soon, then there will be very little that the adults can do to protect you."

Ignoring the glares of the five girls in the room, Darcy opened up the book again to his designated chapter and began.

**Emma.**

"Fantastic," Emma muttered to Becca upon hearing her name and what she supposed was his impression of her voice. "How long do you think he will keep that up?"

Becca snorted. "Probably until we finish all of these books. Better to make him quit while he's ahead."

"**Boys are trying enough to human patience, goodness knows! But girls are infinitely more so."**

"So that settles it then," Stewart smirked. "The two of us were much easier to raise than the five of them put together."

"You were just as challenging to raise as your sister. You both had your difficult moments but I don't think I could rate one over the other in terms of difficulty level," said Calliope as Phoebe and Shannon nodded their heads.

Stewart dropped his mouth open in fake shock. "Emma, pinch me please," he said holding out his arm.

"Why?" she said, raising her eyebrow.

"Because if my mom is giving out diplomatic answers then I must be dreaming."

Calliope huffed at her son while the rest of the group chuckled at the exchange. Emma gave a small shove to her boyfriend to get him back to normal or at least as normal as he could be.

"**Emma! Wake up! It's time!"**

**I crack open one eyelid and freeze. For a split second I think I'm dreaming. There's a soldier standing at the foot of my bed. He's wearing a uniform ad carrying a musket and everything. Then I recognize him: he's a minuteman. He's my father. It's April nineteenth.**

"The day of your infamous food fight," Lily commented with a wry smile.

"Awesome!" Cassidy said, sitting up a little bit straighter. "We should have another one of those. It was pretty fun!"

"Some of us had more fun than others," replied Becca.

"Oh please, Chadwick. You gave back as good you got that day. Admit it, you did have fun," Cassidy countered smugly.

Becca shrugged. "Maybe," she smirked.

**My father flips on a light and strikes a pose. "The Concord Hymn, by Ralph Waldo Emerson," he announces. I let out a groan but he ignores me and begins to recite.**

"**By the rude bridge that arched the flood,**

**Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,**

**Here once the embattled farmers stood**

**And fired the shot heard round the world."**

**I throw my pillow at him, knocking his tricorn hat off. **

"Three in the morning is not poetry time. Ever," Emma said, pointedly looking at her dad.

Nick laughed. "I make no promises."

**He laughs, bends down and picks it up, then leaves, shutting the door behind him.**

**Patriot's Day is a big deal here in Concord. It's a school holiday, and there's a big parade, and lots of crazy people including my parents drag their kids out of bed at the crack of dawn to go to the Old North Bridge for the battle reenactment. "It's educational!" my mother always says, which is mom-code for "It's guaranteed to bore you to tears but you're going anyway because it's good for you." It's a time-honored family tradition, my dad insists whenever Darcy and I protest.**

"And that is dad-code for: 'We've been going for years and years so no reason to stop now,'" Megan said.

**Already, minutemen are gathering in neighboring towns, ready to recreate the march to the Old North Bridge, where over two centuries ago the patriots faced off against the British in the skirmish that sparked the Revolutionary War. People get all excited about the battle reenactment, but it's mostly just a bunch of musket fire and soldiers on both sides falling down and pretending to be dead. It's kind of fun, though. And afterward, everyone sticks around for a big pancake breakfast.**

The entire room cringed at Darcy's Emma impression. They let him have a little fun but enough was enough. The second Darcy looked up from the book a pillow hit his face and fell on the floor. He glared at the girls but they only shook their heads.

"Wasn't us, Hawthorne," Cassidy replied, her eyes sliding towards Phoebe.

She smiled. "Guilty. If your attention was to annoy us then it has clearly worked. But if you will not start reading in your normal voice Darcy, then I will be forced to skip over you."

Chloe's pout was no match for Darcy's once he heard his mom's threat. He tried to decide if she was bluffing and if he should call her bluff. Then he realized there would be many more opportunities for his impressions. With that in mind he continued reading in his normal voice, trying to sound as reluctant as possible.

**Shivering, I reach for my glasses and crawl out of bed, nearly tripping over Cassidy. She mumbles something and rolls over, sliding off the air mattress onto the floor. "Huh?" she says sitting up and rubbing her eyes.**

"**Time to get up!"**

**Jess, who won the coin toss for the top bunk, buries her head under her pillow. "You've got to be kidding," she whines in a muffled voice.**

**I whip it off heartlessly.**

"She shows no mercy when it comes to waking people up. Which is a complete 180 from the way she acts when she is the one being woken up," said Shannon.

Emma shrugged. "It gets the job done."

"**C'mon, Princess Ramshackle. We're leaving soon. You don't want to miss all the fun."**

"**You Hawthornes are crazy," says Megan, from the other air mattress on the floor. She burrows down into her sleeping bag.**

"Like that will stop Emma the Merciless," Stewart said. Emma raised her eyebrow at the statement. "What? It's catchy," he countered, palms lifted in surrender. Emma didn't reply and merely turned back towards Darcy.

"**Totally nuts," I agree, grabbing the foot of the bag and dragging it off the mattress. She lands on the floor with a thud.**

"And she strikes again," Darcy said, waving both arms with a flourish.

Stewart and Lily who were seated next to Darcy had to quickly duck to avoid his flapping arms.

"Vengeance is so sweet though," Megan said.

"What do you mean?" Courtney asked.

Cassidy, Jess, and Megan snickered while Emma grumbled. "We got her back later in New York for the uncalled for wake-up calls," replied Jess. "We did the shaving cream on the hand prank with whipped cream because we didn't have any shaving cream."

"And to wake her up we turned the hotel radio to the rock station and turned it up to as loud as we could get away with. She didn't speak to us for hours but it was so worth it," Cassidy cackled.

Nearly everyone in the room was laughing by the time Cassidy had finished. Emma mumbled something unintelligible even though a small smile also appeared on her face.

"You'll have to us show us those photos again at the next break," Shannon said, motioning for Darcy to continue.

**It's our first annual Mother – Daughter Book Club Patriot's Day Sleepover. Mom suggested it, since Jess always stays over anyway. Her father and my dad are both volunteer minutemen. Mom thought it would be a good way to introduce Cassidy to a bit of Concord's history. Having Megan here too feels good, like a puzzle whose pieces were scattered that has been put back together again. Not perfectly – Megan's piece still has some jagged edges – but still, it's a whole puzzle again.**

"Poetic but incredibly appropriate," said Michael.

**Megan's been pretty quiet since the emergency book club meeting. As far as I can tell, the Fab Four are still thick as thieves, as Mom puts it, but Megan's being a lot nicer these days, and Jess and Cassidy and I are careful to include her more in the stuff we do. Like this sleepover for instance.**

"It felt nice to finally be included by you guys," Megan grinned.

**Not that it was much of a sleepover. We couldn't stay up late because the reenactment starts at dawn, and my parents wouldn't let us watch the movie about the Revolutionary War that Darcy and Kyle rented. Too gory, they said.**

"The one time we came out to get snacks you two were hiding behind the pillows," Jess pointed out.

"Pshh. I guess you guys need to get your eyes checked because that wasn't what was happening. You didn't see us properly in the dark," Darcy said.

"Then what were you doing?" Emma said, waiting to see what he would come up with.

Darcy floundered for a few seconds before grasping onto the first idea that came into his brain. "Pillow fort," he said so matter of factly like it was the most normal thing ever.

"Hm-mm. Whatever you say Darcy," Megan smirked.

**So after we made cookies we mostly just hung out here in my room, where we talked about school and Cassidy entertained us by burping the alphabet.**

Clementine covered her head with her hands while Stanley merely put an arm around her shoulders, chucking quietly. The boys on the other hand tried to plead her into doing at lunch.

"I'll think about it," she shrugged.

**She made us laugh so hard my mom came in and threatened to separate us if we didn't settle down and get to sleep. Which we finally did.**

"**Five minutes!" my dad calls from downstairs, and we scramble for the sweats and fleece we laid out last night. It's still cold out this time of year, especially this early in the morning.**

"**I look like a rooster," says Megan glumly, inspecting herself in the mirror. She takes a comb and tackles the offending bed-head hair. "I just hope we don't run into any boys."**

**I don't say anything. Zach Norton is one topic that Megan and I don't discuss. At all. Ever.**

"Never say never," Megan said to Emma, remembering the conversation that they ended up having at the dance.

**We troop down to the kitchen, where my mother has orange juice waiting for us. It's way too early to eat anything. Getting up at four a.m. always makes me feel a little queasy.**

"**Woo-hoo!" crows Cassidy, catching sight of the knee breeches Darcy and Kyle are wearing. "Where's the rest of your pants, guys?"**

"It was way too early in the morning to see that," shuddered Cassidy.

**This is Darcy's first year as a minuteman. Kyle's too. You have to be in eighth grade to join the reenactment militia. My brother has been looking forward to this forever. Dad bought him the knee breeches, the vest – the whole outfit. He says this is the father-son version of our book club.**

Phoebe raised an eyebrow and snorted. "Oh, really."

"Brace yourself, Nick," Henry stage – whispered. "This isn't going to be pretty."

"So Nick," Lily started, "how often does your father – son book club happen?"

Nick swallowed, trying to make is as inaudible as possible. "Once a year."

Shannon smirked. "Ah. And how often do you think we meet up?"

"No idea but I'm sure you are about to tell me," Nick replied, with just a tiny bit of sarcasm.

"Probably somewhere between the numbers 2 and 365. Give or take a few," Calliope replied with a smug smile.

"Now what have we learned dear husband," Phoebe said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't mess with the mother – daughter book club moms," he grumbled while all the moms in the room high-fived each other. Nick glared at his son until he got the hint and continued reading.

"**Shut up, Sloane," Darcy replies good-naturedly. He takes off his tricorn hat and jams it on her head, which is a mass of fiery red tangles as usual. Cassidy always looks like she has bed-head. "You're in Concord now, not California," he tells her. "Breeches are what true patriots wear, right, Kyle?"**

**Kyle nods. "Think of them as historical surf shorts."**

**Cassidy laughs.**

**Jess regards my brother shyly. "I think you look nice," she says.**

"**Thanks, Jess." Darcy plucks his hat from Cassidy. "See, Sloane? Some people have manners."**

"Those weren't manners Darcy. On planet Earth we call that a crush," Courtney said, dropping into the baby talk she normally reserved for Chloe. "However, this does explain why it took you so long to get together with Jess."

Rolling his eyes, Darcy stuck his tongue out at her. Courtney only laughed and started playing peek-a-boo with Chloe.

**Megan doesn't say anything, but I can tell from the way she's looking at my brother that she thinks he looks nice too. It's weird to think that my friends might actually like my brother. As in boyfriend, I mean.**

"Tel me about it," said Becca, a mock shudder running through her.

"**So, is everyone clear on the plan?" says my dad.**

**We all nod. While they head off to join their regiment, we'll meet up with the Wongs and Cassidy's mom and sister. Jess's dad will leave the twins with us once he gets there, and afterward, we'll all rendezvous at the pancake breakfast and then come back here to our house for the parade. We're right on the parade route, and the best spot to see it is from our front yard. Or from the branches of our big oak tree. Darcy and I usually climb the tree.**

"**Let's go, girls!" says my mother, and we stumble groggily down Lowell Road toward Minuteman National Park. We stake out a good spot on Buttrick Hill overlooking the Old North Bridge and wait. As the sky begins to lighten, the crowd grows, and with it the sense of anticipation. In the distance I hear the rattle of drums and the sharp, piercing marches of the fifes. The music grows closer, announcing the arrival of regiments from Lexington and Maynard and Acton and Boxboro, all the neighboring towns. Just like they did over two hundred years ago, the minutemen are gathering, alerted to the movement of the British troops by Paul Revere and Samuel Prescott. Well, actors pretending to be Paul Revere and Samuel Prescott.**

**I spot lots of kids from school. Ethan is here with his dad and his older brother, and I see the Pattersons from church. For once, I'm not wearing anything of Nicole's. There's no sign of Zach Norton or the rest of the Fab Four yet, though Becca, at least, will probably turn up. Her brother Stewart is in the reenactment for the first time this year, just like Darcy and Kyle. He's not a minuteman, though. The Chadwicks have always played the part of British soldiers because their ancestors were Tories. I'm glad my dad and Darcy don't have to be redcoats.**

Phoebe pulled out a notebook and pen from her purse. "Actually we should suggest that to the group in charge. I think it would be a nice change of pace if everyone got a chance to experience the war from both sides," she said, finishing the memo to herself.

"**There's my father," Jess shouts, and we all wave wildly at him. Mr. Delaney spots us and threads his way through the crowd, dragging a pair of sleepy, protesting twins.**

"**Almost didn't make it," he tells my mother. "These two are a handful."**

"When are they not," Shannon, Michael, and Jess said at the exact same time.

"**We'll take it from here," says my mother, plucking them skillfully away from him.**

"**Thanks," he replies gratefully, and trots over to join his regiment.**

"**When I get bigger I'm going to be a minuteman too," brags Dylan, staring after his father.**

"**Me, too," says Ryan.**

"**Nuh-uh," says Dylan. "I said minuteman first. You have to be a red-coat."**

"**No way," Ryan retorts. "They were the bad guys."**

"**You have to be a red-coat! You have to be a red-coat!" Dylan chants gleefully. Ryan flies at him, enraged and the two of them tumble onto the wet grass, where they scuffle like puppies.**

"**Will you boys quit it!" scolds Jess.**

"**Who wants cocoa?" cries my mother, whipping a thermos out of her bag and holding up some paper cups. This gets the twins' attention, and their argument is instantly forgotten as they crowd around her for the treat.**

"When in doubt, sugar can solve any dilemma," said Phoebe.

"**Little brothers are a pain in the neck," grumbles Jess.**

**Megan looks at them wistfully. I think they're kind of cute," she says. I wouldn't mind having a little brother."**

"There's just moments where I really wish that I wasn't an only child," Megan whispered to her friends.

**Jess snorts. "You're welcome to one of mine anytime."**

"That offer has absolutely no expiration date," Jess said with a straight face, resulting in chuckles throughout the room.

**Mrs. Sloane and Courtney arrive, yawning, along with the Wongs. Mrs. Wong is carrying a cardboard container lined with coffee cups. "Soy lattes," she says, handing them to the grownups. "A healthy wake-me-up."**

"Those actually weren't too terrible," Clementine started. Just as Lily was about to come back with an 'I told you so' Clementine continued, holding up her hand. "That doesn't mean I want to have that again anytime soon."

**Megan waves to Becca, who is standing with her mother alongside the families of the men playing British soldiers. Their crowd seems a little subdued, and keeps apart from the rest of us, which of course is silly since we're all Americans now. Still, like I said before, I'm glad Dad and Darcy get to be patriots.**

"It seems a bit hypocritical Emma," Gigi said, not unkindly but merely stating an observation.

Emma nodded, realizing her mistake. "You're right, Gigi. I was being hypocritical."

"**Samuel Prescott!" someone shouts and the crowd surges forward, straining for a glimpse of the man on horseback. Sure enough, on the far side of the bridge a black horse appears. It thunders across the wooden slats spanning the river and comes to a halt. The rider faces the gathered soldiers and shouts out the traditional warning. "The British are coming!"**

**The crowd takes up the cry as the minutemen all take their places.**

**I shiver, as much with cold as with excitement for the coming battle. At least it's not raining. Or worse, sleeting. One year we even had snow. Family tradition or no family traditions, there's nothing worse than standing in a soggy field at five in the morning, shivering under an umbrella.**

**A flash of scarlet across the river signals the arrival of the redcoats. A musket cracks and I flinch. The battle has begun.**

Darcy finished the last couple of paragraphs in a tone that only the serious narrator of a movie could pull off. The girls giggled quietly and rolled their eyes when his back was turned.

"**Cool!" says Cassidy, watching the action unfold in front of us. As the patriots and redcoats fire on one another, smoke from the muskets drifts across the field like mist. A minuteman falls, and then another. A British soldier, too. I think it's Mr. Chadwick.**

**A few minutes later, it's finished. The fallen dead stand up again and brush themselves off, and the troops shake hands, then line up for the twenty-one-gun salute. I like this part of the ceremony best. As the cannon booms out again and again across the meadows, I close my eyes, feeling its thunder echo in my bones and in the hollow of my chest.**

"It's like being in another world whenever you stand there and listen to the cannons," said Stewart, remembering his own day at the reenactments.

"**Would you girls watch the twins for a few minutes?" my mother asks.**

"No," Jess, Megan, and Emma said. Cassidy being the only one of the group to shout "Yes." The three other girls turned to her incredulously.

"Our most epic food fight ever happened because of those two monsters," she said. "They are incredibly handy to have around."

The girls only gagged at the showers that occurred in the aftermath and telepathically agreed to never leave Cassidy alone with the twins.

"**There's someone her I'd like Clementine to meet."**

**She hands Dylan and Ryan off to us and drifts away with Mrs. Sloane and the Wongs. Cassidy watches her go, a funny expression on her face. Last night she told us that she thinks maybe her mother has a boyfriend. I guess Mrs. Sloane has been spending a lot more time than usual checking her e-mail, and once or twice Cassidy and her sister have seen the name "Fred" in the return address field.**

"Oh, sweetie," Clementine said, looking at her daughter. "That's why you were surprised when I told you that Fred was my producer."

Cassidy nods. "Yeah. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of you moving on."

**She gets packages and mail from him all the time now too. Cassidy is not thrilled with this idea at all, of course. I wouldn't be either.**

All the kids in the room tried to imagine what it would be like to see their parents with other people and immediately dismissed the idea.

**As we line up for pancakes and sausages, Jess's little brothers are afire with excitement and it's all we can do to hang onto them. The hot food tastes good, and we tuck in hungrily. All around us, minutemen and redcoats alike do the same, mingling cheerfully as they eat.**

**Well, mostly cheerfully.**

"**Lobsterback!" I hear Dylan cry.**

"**Rotten redcoat!" Ryan adds.**

"Of course they started it," Michael muttered to his wife who only shook her head remembering the conversation they had later that day on the phone about the trouble her boys caused.

**We turn around to see that the twins have armed themselves with sticks, which they're jabbing at Stewart Chadwick, who's trying to eat his breakfast.**

"Sorry about the boys Stewart," Michael said. "All the excitement goes to their head but they have learned their lesson."

"It's alright sir," Stewart smiled, "They weren't bothering me too much."

Emma grinned at her boyfriend before returning her attention to Darcy.

**Dylan's makeshift bayonet accidentally hits the plate, and the pancakes go flying.**

"LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!" Darcy and Stewart more or less shouted. Everyone in the room rubbed their ears at the sudden deafness that they were experiencing and gave the two teenagers death glares that did nothing to ruin their glee. On the contrary, they laughed at the jumpiness of everyone in the room and high-fived each other.

"That's it," Jess muttered to her friends in a low voice that couldn't be heard over all the scolding from the parents. "We need to get them back. We'll call for a break after this chapter and plan it out. Are you guys in?"

The four whispered their agreements and were careful to hide their smug smiles from the rest of the room.

**Becca grabs Dylan's arm and shakes him. Hard. He cries out and Jess whips around.**

"**Hey!" she calls. "Leave my brother alone!"**

Becca hung her head at her behavior. There was no need to be such a jerk to the kid.

"The gauntlet has been thrown. Ladies and gentlemen, I repeat, the gauntlet has been thrown," intoned Stewart.

**Becca's eyes narrow as she looks from one to the other. "He's your brother, is he?" I should have known by his manners." She smirks at Dylan. "Raised in a barn just like your sister, were you, Goat Boy?"**

"Ooohhh," the boys said, acting like the five – year olds everybody was convinced they were. Nobody would admit it to them but they were helping to ease the serious atmosphere the fight had brought up.

**Jess's face flushes with anger. She marches over to Becca. "His name isn't Goat Boy, it's Dylan," she snaps. "Let go of his arm."**

**Cassidy and I exchange a glance. What's gotten into shy Jess?**

"She wasn't going to let anyone hurt her brothers so she let out outspoken Jess from her secret hiding place," Emma said.

"**Who's going to make me?" Becca demands. "You?" She gives Dylan another shake. "Little beast shouldn't be running around without a leash."**

"The insults are flying and the claws are out," Darcy said, slipping into his own commentator voice. "Chadwick, whatever do you think is going to happen next?"

"Well, Hawthorne, I imagine backup will be gathered to the opposing sides to ready themselves for the battle. I implore all innocent bystanders to head for cover. It's about to get messy," Stewart grinned.

**Cassidy and I hurry over to stand beside Jess. Ashley and Jen drift over next to Becca, looking a little sheepish. As well they should – they both have pesty little brothers of their own. Megan walks over too, but she doesn't join either group. Instead, she stands apart slightly. "Let him go, Becca," she says.**

**Becca lifts an eyebrow. "I should have known you'd side with your little book club friends," she sneers. "Traitor." She glances over at Ashley and Jen. "It's us or them. Right, girls?"**

"Megan has been asked the game changing question. Hold onto your hats folks, her answer could make or break this battle," Darcy said, putting the book down so he could rub his hands together like a maniacal villain. Everyone else in the room except for his partner in crime looked at him strangely until he got the hint and continued reading.

**Ashley and Jen snicker nervously. They look over at Megan, than at Becca. Finally, they shrug and nod. Stupid wannabees," I mutter to Cassidy.**

"**Buzz, buzz, buzz," she mutters back.**

"Random question," Emma said, turning to look at her boyfriend. "Where were you when all this was going down?"

"I went to get another plate. A growing guy has to eat you know," he teased. Adopting a more serious tone, he continued, "I really didn't know all this was going on or I would have tried to stop it."

Satisfied with his answer, Emma gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before tuning back in to her brother.

**We all stand there glaring at each other, the Mother-Daughter Book Club versus the Fab Four. Or possibly Fab Three. Something is hanging in the balance here, something important. A line has been drawn in the sand. It's like we're fighting our own private war of sorts, right here on this historical battlefield. I hold my breath, wondering what Megan will do.**

Caught up in the suspense, everyone who was reading held their breath as well, even the people who knew what happened next.

**She doesn't even hesitate. Glancing over at me, she smiles a real honest-to-goodness Megan smile. Then she calmly plops her plate of pancakes right on top of Becca Chadwick's head.**

Everyone in the room cheered at that, knowing that it takes guts to stand up to someone who used to be your friend.

"**Aaauugh!" cries Becca, dropping Dylan's arm as her hands fly up to her syrup-covered hair.**

"**Way to go, Wong!" says Cassidy in astonished admiration.**

"Didn't think you had it in you. But this is such an epic way to prove me wrong!" Cassidy said, bumping her fist against Megan's.

**I am speechless. So is Jess. Dylan runs over to her, and she puts her arms around him protectively.**

Shannon and Michael smiled. They were proud that even though she is more annoyed with them than not, Jess would always be willing to protect the twins.

"Let the blood bath begin," Darcy and Stewart said solemnly.

"**You **_**creep**_**!" screams Becca. "What did you do that for?"**

"**Pick on someone your own size next time," says Megan.**

"**You'd better believe I will!" Becca grabs Ashley's paper plate and throws it at Megan.**

**Megan ducks and the pancakes hit Cassidy instead, who launches herself at the Fab Three with a howl of rage.**

Stewart shook his head. "Didn't anyone ever tell you dear sister, unleashing the beast is the absolute worst strategy in the book."

His comments earned him another eye roll from Becca and a 'Watch it, Chadwick' from Cassidy.

**In a flash, pancakes and sausages are flying everywhere. The crowd quickly moves away from us as Ryan and Dylan get in on the act too.**

"Now that I'm looking back on it, I think they weren't fussy about who they were aiming for. In fact, I'm pretty sure we ended up taking the brunt of it," Jess said.

**I look up from mashing my plate against the side of Jen Webster's face to see Mrs. Chadwick bearing down on us. She grabs a twin in each meaty hand. "Where are your parents?" she demands.**

"**The boys are with me," says my mother, who is right on her heels. She unhooks the twins from Mrs. Chadwick's grasp. "And so are these four wildcats. The battle's over, girls."**

"Well, Stewart, as always it has been a pleasure commentating with you."

"With you as well my colleague. And ladies and gents, there will be no need to fret. We are quite sure that you will see us again soon," Stewart chuckled.

The room was so quiet you could hear the ceiling fan moving above them. It was Becca who broke the silence.

"Sorry, but did you say we have to go through this again?" she asked incredulously.

"And again," Cassidy added.

"And again," Megan shuddered.

The girls collectively groaned while the adults in the room struggled to not do the same.

**Becca's mother puts her hands on her ample hips. "Who started this?" she demands.**

**Becca points to Megan. "She did!"**

"**It's the influence of that terrible club," Mrs. Chadwick says. "I knew it!"**

"**Megan didn't start it, Becca did," says Jess. "She hurt my brother."**

**Mrs. Chadwick swells up at this accusation. "It's hardly my daughter's fault that your beastly little brother is so out-of-control," she says. "Now if your mother were here –"**

Calliope winced at what she had said and what she was about to say. But she never did things halfway. Not even her accusations.

"**That's enough, Calliope." My mother's voice is sharp.**

"**Well," she huffs. "All I'm saying is you should keep them under better control."**

Calliope quietly snorted but didn't wish to elaborate to Henry who was the only one that heard her.

**She trundles off, dabbing at Becca's sticky hair with a napkin. Ashley and Jen slink after them.**

**My mother, Mrs. Sloane, and Mrs. Wong turn and stare at the four of us silently. I can barely see through the bits of pancake squished into my glasses, and I can feel syrup dripping down the back of my neck.**

"It was a while before I could properly eat a pancake again," Jess said as all the other girls except Cassidy agreed with her.

**Cassidy fishes a piece of sausage out from behind her ear, inspects it, then pops it into her mouth. Her mother closes her eyes and shakes her head. Her shoulders start to twitch. I relax a little. She's laughing.**

"I was hoping that we would take some pictures before you showered. I think I still have them somewhere," Clementine said.

"**They had it coming, Mom," I tell my mother.**

**She gives me a rueful smile. "I don't doubt it," she replies. "Well, whoever started it, it doesn't matter now. What matters is that we get you girls cleaned up before the parade starts."**

**Trailing bits of breakfast, we head toward home. At the top of Buttrick Hill we pass the Concord militia, who are gathered under a stand of elms. We all wave to Dad and Darcy and Mr. Delaney. Their mouths drop open when they see us.**

"**Don't even ask," my mother tells them.**

"I think I speak for all of us when I say that we were afraid to ask what happened," Michael said ruefully.

"**Hey, look! There's Third!" cries Cassidy.**

**Sure enough, Third and his father (do they call him Second, since he's Cranfield Bartlett II?)**

"Sometimes," Jerry shrugged. "But if you ask him he prefers Cranfield."

**are there with the others. Technically, Third is too young to be a minuteman, but he's been playing the drums since he was in a playpen, practically, and he's really good, so they made an exception. He's the regiment's drummer boy. He sees us and rattles out a quick beat on his snare drum, showing off.**

"He'll be a professional sure enough," Nick said.

"**Hey, Beauty," says a familiar voice behind me. I turn around to see Zach Norton, and feel a stab of envy when I realize he's talking to Jess.**

"**Hey, Beast," she replies, smiling shyly.**

"Inside jokes are just too cute," Clementine muttered to Shannon, who giggled silently.

**He picks a piece of pancake out of her hair. "I saw the food fight," he says. "Way to stick up for your brother."**

_**Does Zach really think Jess is beautiful**_**, I wonder, **_**or is he just saying that because of the play?**_

"Probably both," said Courtney. Noticing Darcy's glare, she backtracked while rolling her eyes. "Or it was just the latter. Sheesh."

**He turns to Cassidy. "So what do you think, Sloane? You have anything like this back in Laguna Beach?"**

**Cassidy snorts. "Food fights? We'd leave you in the dust."**

When she saw her mom's eyes on her, Cassidy swiftly replied, "Not that I've ever been in any," she said with a grin.

"**I mean the battle, you dork."**

**Cassidy shakes her head. "Historical in California means, like, anything more than two weeks old," she replies. "I never even heard of the Revolutionary War before we moved here."**

Phoebe shuddered at the thought of a school that didn't even teach kids about the Revolutionary War.

**Zach doesn't say anything to Megan or me.**

"Forget him. If he's dumb enough to give you girls the cold shoulder, then he is not worth your time," Gigi said, smiling at the two girls.

**Third rattles out another drum tattoo, and the militia throw their paper plates and cups in the trash and fall in line. As the ranks of men head off toward downtown Concord, where they'll assemble for the parade, the fife and drum corps start to play "Yankee Doodle."**

"**Stuck a pancake on her head and called it macaroni!" sings Cassidy at the top of her lungs, falling in behind them. She turns and grins at us.**

**Megan and Jess and I grin back. We hurry to join her, and the four of us link arms like victorious soldiers and march off toward home.**

"That was awesome!" Darcy exclaimed, slamming the book closed and getting up to stretch. "You all should let me read more often. Now who's next?" he said, moving to sit back down.

Jess stood up. "Actually, could we break for a little bit to eat something and then continue? I don't think that I will be able to last till lunch."

"Of course we can," Lily replied. "Then afterwards, depending on how fast we are, we could do a couple more chapters and then break for lunch.

"Great!" Jess said, before she and the girls headed up to Megan's room with big smiles on their faces.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello again! The fact that you are still with me after being on this long of a hiatus just proves that all of you are awesome! I hope that this chapter has lived up to your expectations and I want you to know that even though I have been terrible with replying to them, I read each and every one of your reviews and they make me so happy! Whether you review or not, knowing that you read it is enough to keep me going to end. I love you all so much and I can't wait to hear your thoughts.**

**Love, ree**


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